Attack Squadron 12 (VA-12)

Attack Squadron 12
VA-12 insignia
Active	12 May 1945 – 1 October 1986
Country	United States
Branch	United States Navy
Type	attack
Part of	Inactive
Nickname	Flying Ubangis
Motto	Kiss of death
Aircraft flown
Attack	A-4 Skyhawk A-7 Corsair II
Fighter	F4U Corsair F8F Bearcat F2H Banshee F7U Cutlass

Attack Squadron 12 (VA-12) was an aviation unit of the United States Navy.

[edit] History

The squadron had been established on 12 May 1945 as fighter-bomber squadron "VBF-4". It was redesignated "VF-2A" on 15 November 1946, "VF-12" on 2 August 1948, and was finally attack squadron "VA-12" on 1 August 1955. The squadron was disestablished on 1 October 1986.

In 1960, VA-12 was part of airwing of the USS Shangri-La when that carrier was deployed to counter Cuban infiltration into Guatemala and Nicaragua. The next year, the squadron returned to the area aboard USS Franklin D. Roosevelt to support the government of the Dominican Republic. In 1963 the squadron was deployed in detachments to the USS Essex and USS Intrepid for anti-submarine warfare exercises. In August of the next year, the squadron was again on board the Roosevelt when the carrier was deployed to the eastern Mediterranean in response to trouble between Greeks and Turks on the island of Cyprus.

A4D-2 of VA-12 launching from the USS Forrestal in 1959.

The squadron saw combat in Vietnam twice, in 1966 and 1971. Later in 1971, the unit relinquished the A-4 for the A-7 Corsair. 1973 and 1974 saw further trouble in the Mediterranean. 1973 saw the Yom Kippur War and 1974 the assassination of the American ambassador to Cyprus. In 1980, the Iranian hostage crisis saw the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower with the squadron on board. The ship remained at sea for 254 days continuously. Trouble in Lebanon flared in 1983, and the squadron supported the peacekeeping force in the country.

On 1 October 1986, the squadron was disestablished, ending 31 years of service as an attack unit, and ten years prior to that as a fighter unit.

[edit] Home Port Assignment

• NAS Cecil Field

[edit] Commanding Officers

A VA-12 A-7E Corsair II.

• CDR Paul H. Durand Aug 1955
• CDR Marshall P. Deputy, Jr. Jan 1957
• CDR Charles A. Pendleton, Jr. 10 January 1958
• CDR William B. Barrow 22 January 1959
• CDR Richard J. Deprez Mar 1960
• CDR John E. Hansen 18 June 1961
• CDR Robert E. Oechslin 14 June 1962
• CDR Max E. Malan 14 June 1963
• CDR Burton E. Berglund 15 June 1964
• CDR James D. Whyte 30 April 1965
• CDR Robert C. Frosio Apr 1966
• CDR Gerald P. Barnett 18 November 1966
• CDR Austin C. O’Brien, Jr. 21 November 1967
• CDR Richard M. Fletcher Nov 1968
• CDR Walter R. Petersen 30 September 1969
• CDR Daniel H. L. Gholson 10 July 1970
• LCDR Henry E. Nelson 16 June 1971
• CDR Anthony A. Less 30 June 1972
• CDR John F. Calhoun Oct 1973
• CDR James M. Hickerson 1975
• CDR Gary W. Mau 14 February 1976
• CDR David R. Edwards 10 May 1977
• CDR Richard B. Curtis 26 July 1978
• CDR Robert A. Maier 1 November 1979
• CDR Audrey B. Whitten 26 February 1981
• CDR James M. Gill 19 May 1982
• CDR Michael W. Samuels 1 October 1983
• CDR Harry M. Conner 21 May 1985

[edit] Aircraft Assigned

• F4U-1/-1D, FG-1/-1D: 23 May 1945
• F4U-4: 30 September 1945
• F8F-1/-1B: May 1947
• F2H-1/-2: 1 September 1950
• F7U-3: 3 December 1955
• A4D-1: 1 April 1957
• A4D-2: 2 January 1958
• A4D-2N (A-4C): 8 January 1962 (the A4D-2N was redesignated the A-4C in 1962)
• A-4E: 8 March 1965
• A-4C: 9 March 1967
• A-7E: 1 April 1971

[edit] Squadron Air Wing Assignment

• CVG-4: 12 May 1945 (tail code "T"), redesignated
• CVAG-1: 15 November 1946 (tail code "T"), redesignated
• CVG-1: 1 September 1948 (tail code "T")
• CVG-10: 20 January 1958 (tail code "AK")
• CVG-1: 5 December 1960 (tail code "AB"), redesignated
• CVW-1: 20 December 1963 (tail code "AB")
• CVW-8: 25 August 1968 (tail code "AJ")
• CVW-7: 1971 (tail code "AG")