Official VFA-94 Mighty Shrikes Plane Captain Patches

Official VFA-94 Mighty Shrikes Plane Captain Patches — The Sailors Who Own the Jet Before It Ever Leaves the Deck

Every Hornet that launches off the bow has a plane captain's name on the acceptance sheet. No signature, no flight.

Strike Fighter Squadron 94 (VFA-94) — the 'Mighty Shrikes' — is one of the U.S. Navy's most combat-seasoned strike fighter squadrons, named after the loggerhead shrike, a small but ferocious predatory bird that impales its prey on thorns. Established as Fighter Squadron 94 (VF-94) on March 26, 1952, at Naval Air Station Alameda, California, the squadron originally carried the nickname 'Tough Kitties' before adopting the Shrike identity when it was redesignated as Light Attack Squadron 94 (VA-94) on August 1, 1958. After relocating to Naval Air Station Lemoore in 1962, the Mighty Shrikes flew every model of the A-4 Skyhawk into combat during the Vietnam War, completing seven consecutive combat deployments to Southeast Asia aboard five different aircraft carriers — USS Ranger, USS Enterprise, USS Hancock, USS Bon Homme Richard, and USS Coral Sea — flying with two different air wings and two different aircraft types. VA-94 aircraft led the first major Navy bombing strikes into North Vietnam after the 1968 bombing halt and participated in the mining of Haiphong Harbor. After transitioning to the A-7E Corsair II in 1971, the squadron continued deploying throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, participating in Operation Frequent Wind — the evacuation of Saigon in 1975 — and the recovery of the SS Mayaguez after its seizure by Cambodia. In 1983, VA-94 became the first single-engine tactical aircraft squadron of any service to fly across the Pacific Ocean from the Philippines to the United States. The Shrikes supported combat operations against Libya from the deck of USS Enterprise in 1986, flew tanker escort missions during Operation Earnest Will in 1988, and then made history during Operation Praying Mantis on April 18, 1988 — the first major U.S. naval battle since World War II — when squadron aircraft delivered direct hits on the Iranian frigate Sahand, helping to sink her in the Persian Gulf. In June 1990, the Mighty Shrikes received their first F/A-18C Hornets, were redesignated VFA-94, and deployed aboard USS Abraham Lincoln in 1991 to enforce UN sanctions in the Persian Gulf and participate in Operation Fiery Vigil, evacuating thousands from the Philippines after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo. The squadron went on to fly missions over Iraq during Operations Southern Watch and Vigilant Sentinel, completed four expeditionary deployments to MCAS Iwakuni, Japan, as part of the Unit Deployment Program, and transitioned from the F/A-18C to the F/A-18F Super Hornet in 2015–2016. Today, VFA-94 flies with Carrier Air Wing 17 — 'Team Quicksand' — out of NAS Lemoore, carrying a tail code of 'NA' and the callsign 'Hobo.' This plane captain patch honors the enlisted maintainers and plane captains who are the first to touch the jet in the morning and the last to sign it off at night — the Sailors whose hands-on expertise keeps every Mighty Shrikes Super Hornet mission-ready on the flight deck.

Perfect For: VFA-94 Mighty Shrikes plane captains and maintainers past and present, CVW-17 flight deck crew, F/A-18 Super Hornet and legacy Hornet maintenance personnel, NAS Lemoore aviation ordnancemen and airframers, and anyone who has turned wrenches or walked the flight deck for the Mighty Shrikes.