Korean War The squadron was originally equipped with the
Chance-Vought F4U-4 Corsair. It was assigned to
Carrier Air Group Three (CVG-3) and made two deployments on the aircraft carrier . The first was to the
Mediterranean Sea in mid-1950 quickly followed by a combat deployment to Korea from September 1950 to February 1951. For its action in the
Korean War VF-33 earned the
Navy Unit Citation. The squadron called themselves the "Tarsiers", after
a fierce primate. The squadron affectionately called their tarsier "Minky".
Jet transition Following its deployment to Korea VF-33 returned to the U.S. East Coast and transitioned to the
F9F-6 Cougar. The squadron was assigned to
Carrier Air Group Six (CVG-6) and deployed to the Mediterranean Sea aboard the in 1954. After this tour the
Tarsiers again transitioned to the
FJ-3 Fury and made three deployments in 1956 and 1957 to the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, this time aboard the carriers , USS
Leyte, and . Aboard
Intrepid VF-33 took part in the NATO exercise
Operation Strikeback. In 1958 VF-33 transitioned to the supersonic
F-11 Tiger and was renamed
Astronauts. As part of CVG-6 VF-33 made two tours to the Mediterranean Sea aboard the
Intrepid. In early 1961 the squadron changed already to its fourth jet fighter in seven years, the
F8U-1E Crusader, and changed its name back to
Tarsiers. VF-33 took its F8U-1E (F-8B) again aboard
Intrepid to the Mediterranean in 1961-62 and was then equipped with the F8U-2NE (F-8E) version. The squadron was then deployed aboard the , to the Mediterranean Sea in August 1962. However,
Enterprise was recalled in October to reinforce the naval blockade of
Cuba during the
Cuban Missile Crisis. In 1963
Enterprise and CVW-6 were again deployed to the
United States Sixth Fleet, before taking part in
Operation Sea Orbit in 1964. This was the around-the-world cruise of the United States Navy's Task Force One, consisting of USS
Enterprise, , and . This all-nuclear-powered unit steamed 56,606 km (30,565 nm) unrefuelled around the world for sixty-five days. In 1964 the unit transitioned to the
F-4 Phantom II and would fly the Phantom for the next seventeen years alongside its sister squadron
VF-102. The first VF-33 Phantom was the F-4B, which they flew until 1967 at which time they moved up to the F-4J which featured better radar, higher thrust engines, slatted tailplanes, extra fuel cells and a larger main wheels to handle the increased weight. Between 1965 and 1968
Carrier Air Wing Six made the shakedown cruise and three deployments aboard the .
Vietnam operations VF-33 deployed to the
Vietnam War on board USS
America from 10 April to 16 December 1968. During their time in the theatre VF-33 would drop over three million pounds of ordnance, flying 4000 combat hours over a period of 5 months. On 4 June F-4J #155554 was hit by antiaircraft fire, the pilot LT Eric Brice was killed in action, body not recovered, while the Radar Intercept Officer ejected successfully and was rescued. On 18 June F-4J #155546 was hit by a
SAM-2, both crewmen ejected successfully and were rescued. VF-33 won several awards including the
CNO Safety Award in 1969 and 1970 and during the 1975–1976 cruise they won the
Golden Tailhook Award as the Navy recognised their skill at carrier landing. In February 1979 VF-33 had flown three years without accident. In early 1979 VF-33 also operated from the during that carrier's shakedown cruise.
Tomcat transition In 1981 VF-33 transitioned to the
F-14A Tomcat along with VF-102 and joined
Carrier Air Wing One assigned to USS
America. Until 1992 VF-33 made twelve deployments with CVW-1 aboard the
America to the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and the
Indian Ocean. Their first deployment was a grueling North Atlantic NATO deployment (
Northern Wedding) between August and October 1982. VF-33 has used stars as part of their tail markings since the Crusader days and settled on a large star for their latter F-4 tenure and as the main symbol on the Tomcat. In 1987, they abandoned "Minky" and changed their name from
Tarsiers to
Starfighters, which was their radio callsign. The new patch featured a large star with a head-on view of a Tomcat. On 20 August 1985 VF-33 was the first squadron to complete 50 missile firings without a single failure.
Gulf of Sidra operations In March 1986 VF-33 would bring their F-14s into a combat environment for the first time on board USS
America with Carrier Air Wing 1 as they took part in
Operation Attain Document in the
Mediterranean Sea alongside the
Saratoga and . VF-33 engaged two Libyan
MiG-25s with intent on shooting down the F-14s, but the Tomcats outmaneuvered the Libyans and ended behind the Libyan fighters, but the pilots did not have permission to open fire. Along with VF-102 they provided air cover during the operation as the carrier group moved into the
Gulf of Sidra, which was claimed by
Libya to be the
Line of Death. Libya claimed its territorial waters extended across the entire Gulf of Sidra as opposed to the internationally recognised limit of 12 miles, and because of this claim, any airplane or ship within these waters was alleged to be in Libyan territory and liable to attack. US carriers occasionally challenged this assertion resulting in the first VF-41 Tomcat engagements with Libyan fighters in August 1981. On 15 April 1986, after a terrorist attack on disco hall
La Belle in
Berlin, killing two American servicemen and a Turkish woman, President
Ronald Reagan ordered airstrikes, called
Operation El Dorado Canyon, against targets in Libya.
F-111 bombers based at
RAF Lakenheath and
RAF Upper Heyford in the
United Kingdom attacked targets in
Tripoli while U.S. Navy
A-6 Intruders from
America and
Coral Sea attacked targets in
Benghazi. Navy and
United States Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornets and Navy
A-7’s attacked
surface-to-air missile sites with
AGM-88 HARM missiles. F-14 squadrons deployed in the Mediterranean, including VF-33, flew cover for the strike force. In 1986, VF-33 flew 895 continuous sorties without an abort. In 1987 VF-33 made a short cruise on board the Navy’s newest carrier, the . After workups in 1988, VF-33 deployed on board
America to the North Atlantic in February 1989, and again for a six-month Med-IO cruise from May through November. In February 1990 VF-33 made a two and a half month transit from
San Diego to
Philadelphia Naval Shipyard aboard providing fighter protection as the carrier made the journey around the southern tip of South America. VF-33 took part in several joint "Gringo-Gaucho" Exercises with
South American nations during the transit.
Desert Storm operations When
Iraq invaded
Kuwait in August 1990, four aircraft carriers were deployed to the region to provide carrier based air support for Operation Desert Shield. As the deadline for Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait approached in January 1991,
Theodore Roosevelt and
America deployed to the region via the Suez Canal. VF-33 deployed with USS
America arriving just as
Operation Desert Storm commenced.
America flew sorties alongside
John F. Kennedy and
Saratoga in the
Red Sea before moving to the
Persian Gulf to join USS
Midway, and
Theodore Roosevelt. VF-33 and VF-102 were the only Tomcat squadrons to fly missions from both the Red Sea and Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm.
Disestablishment In 1993 a VF-33 airframe became the first F-14 to log 5,000 flight hours. When the Navy decided to assign only a single
TARPS Tomcat squadron per carrier air wing after the end of the
Cold War, VF-33 was not TARPS capable and despite the squadron's success in Desert Storm, it was disestablished on 1 October 1993. However, the tradition of VF-33 lives on through a very active alumni group that hosts a website and periodic reunions. ==Gallery==