CVG-82 The Second Carrier Air Group to carry the CVG-17 designation was established as CVG-82 on 1 April 1944 during
World War II and was assigned to the aircraft carrier . CVG-82 consisted of Fighting Squadron 82, flying the
Grumman F6F Hellcat, Bombing Squadron 82 (Curtiss SB2C Helldiver), Torpedo Squadron 82 (Grumman TBM Avenger) and the two
USMC fighter squadrons VMF-112 and VMF-123 (Vought F4U Corsair). After training on the U.S. East Coast,
Bennington reached the U.S. 5th Fleet on 7 February 1945. Nine days later. CVG-82 attacked targets in the
Tokyo area, mainly the airfields at Nachijo Jima, Nanpo Shoto, Mikatagahara, and Hamamatsu. From 20 to 22 February, the wing supported the landings on
Iwo Jima. This was followed by attacks on targets in the Japanese Inland Sea and on
Okinawa in March. On 7 April, aircraft from CVG-82 participated in the sinking of the battleship
Yamato. The Air Group then supported U.S. troops on
Okinawa until June. On 17 June 1945, CVG-82 was replaced aboard
Bennington by CVG-1, and was transported to the US aboard . During its deployment, CVG-82 was credited with the destruction of 167 Japanese aircraft in the air and 220 on the ground. However, CVG-82 lost 40 pilots and 13 crewmembers, 25% of its regular strength. Following the war the Air Group was reassigned to the
United States Atlantic Fleet. CVG-82 began its first deployment to the Atlantic Ocean area in October 1946 aboard
Randolph.
CVAG-17 On 15 November 1946 all then existing CVGs were redesignated according to a new designation scheme. Carrier Air Groups assigned to
Essex class carriers were designated CVAGs and those assigned to the larger
Midway class carrier were designated CVBGs. CVAGs were numbered sequential from 1 to 21 using only odd number and CVG-82 was redesignated "Attack Carrier Air Group Seventeen (CVAG-17)".
CVG-17 Not long thereafter, on 1 September 1948, the Navy instituted yet another designation scheme eliminating the CVAG and CVBG designations and all existing Carrier Air Groups were redesignated to CVGs numbered sequentially beginning with . CVAG-17 became CVG-17 (the second use of the CVG-17 designation). Until 1953, CVG-17 made eight deployments to the Mediterranean Sea aboard
Randolph,
Midway,
Franklin D. Roosevelt and
Coral Sea. Between September 1953 and May 1954, CVG-17 circumnavigated the world aboard
Wasp. In 1955 CVG-17 deployed again aboard
Coral Sea, followed by three deployments with
Franklin D. Roosevelt until March 1958. In November 1956,
FDR and
Forrestal were rushed to the Mediterranean Sea to join
Randolph and
Coral Sea during the
Suez Crisis, to prevent any
Soviet intervention. CVG-17 was disestablished on 16 September 1958. == See also ==