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VF-103 Jolly Rogers (ex Sluggers) 
CALLSIGN: VICTORY
VF-103 Sluggers was established in 1952 when they flew the F4U Corsair. Shortly after that, the Sluggers traded their Corsair for the F9F Cougar. After a few years with the Cougar, VF-103 became one of the early F8U Crusader squadrons. Once the transition was complete, the Sluggers were teamed up with VF-102 as part of CVG-10 aboard USS Forrestal. Prior to the introduction of the fast-moving, high-flying Crusader, American carrier battle groups were often embarrassed by British bombers during allied exercises. The RAF Canberras had always been able to make mock-attacks on US carriers with impunity. The carrier-cased fighters at the time simply didn't have the speed or high-altitude performance to put up much of a resistance. During the September 1958 Mediterranean cruise, the British pilots were shocked when VF-103's Crusaders tore through their formation of Canberras, before they even had a chance to initiate their simulated attack. By the end of the Vietnam conflict, the Sluggers had already begun flying the F-4J Phantom. When the Vietnam war heated up in the summer of 1972, USS Saratoga (CV-60), with CVW-17 onboard, was rushed to the theatre in an attempt to thwart North Vietnamese invasion. On 10 August 1972, LCDR Robert Tucker and LTJG Stanley Edens shot down a MiG-21 with an AIM-7E Sparrow missile during a night interception. It was the Navy's only night MiG kill. VF-103 was among the Navy's last fighter squadrons to transition to the Tomcat. They finally made the big leap in January 1983. The squadron conducted the East Coast's first low-altitude AIM-54 Phoenix missile shoot only a month after their transition to the F-14A. In October 1985, the Sluggers participated in the interception of the Egyptian 737 airliner carrying hijackers of Achille Lauro. The 737 was forced to land at Sigonella, Italy. The terrorists were taken into custody by Italian authorities. In 1989, the Sluggers transitioned to the F-14B (then the F-14A+), and along with VF-74 Bedevilers, took the more powerful breed of 'Cat to sea in August of 1990. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in the summer of 1990, VF-103 was preparing for a routine deployment aboard Saratoga. Soon Sara joined up with USS Eisenhower at the Red Sea. VF-103 and VF-74 worked together to develop the tactics which will be used later in the war. When Operation Desert Storm commenced in January 1991, the Sluggers were in the midst of the fray. Their missions included fighter escorts for the carrier air wing's strike packages, reconnaissance, bomb damage assessment, and of course, the often-taken-for-granted combat air patrols. VF-103 did suffer a combat loss during the Gulf War. On the fourth day of Desert Storm, a Sluggers Tomcat was shot down by what believed to be an SA-2 surface-to-air missile while on an escort mission. After ejecting from their striken F-14B, the RIO, LT Larry Slade, was captured by Iraqi troops and held in Baghdad as a POW until the end of the war. The pilot of the aircraft, LT Devon Jones, was able to evade Iraqi capture, and after spending eight long hours deep in enemy territory, he was eventually rescued by a USAF special operations force. 
On 1 October 1995, like many other F-14 squadrons before it, VF-84 Jolly Rogers fell victim to the budgetary axe and closed
its squadron doors for the very last time. Not wanting the famous skull-and-crossbones to disappear from the deck of carriers,
or even worse--to be picked up by a VFA squadron, VF-103 requested to adopt the Jolly Rogers name and insignia. They
were given the green light, thus the proud tradition of the Jolly Rogers is kept alive!
In 1996, a new set of claws were added to Tomcat's already formidable arsenal--the newly acquired LANTIRN (Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night) pod. The LANTIRN pod enables the crew to see what lies ahead in far more detail than with radar, day or night. It allows the F-14 to designate targets for its own, or other aircraft's laser-guided munitions. The pod also has an integrated global positioning system. Being a self-contained unit, the pod can be moved from one F-14 to another with minimum fuss. On 28th of June, only two weeks after its official unveiling ceremony, the LANTIRN pod made its operational debut with the new Jolly Rogers, when VF-103 set sail for the Mediterranean aboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65), carrying six pods with them. Although initially there are only a limited number of LANTIRN units to go around, eventually all of Navy's remaining Tomcat squadrons will be equipped with them. Since its earliest days, VF-103 has adorned the tailfins of their aircraft with a horizontal yellow arrow outlined in black. The original squadron insignia was a cloverleaf. Later a stylized aircraft darting through the leaf was added, along with a baseball bat. The baseball stemmed from an early skipper who often carried one with him. In 1991, VF-103's birds began to use its squadron insignia as their tail-art, in place of the trademark bold arrow. F-14B, late 1980s  F-14B, 1995  F-14B, 1998  F-14B, 2004  |
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