All Weather Fighter Squadron 3 (VF(AW)-3) was a designation which was used by two separate U.S. Navy aviation squadrons. The first squadron to use the designation was established as Composite Squadron THREE (VC-3) on 20 May 1943, was redesignated All Weather Fighter Squadron THREE (VF(AW)-3) on 1 July 1956 and was disestablished on 2 May 1958. The second squadron to use the designation was established as "Navy Air Training Unit-Pacific (NATUPAC)" on 22 May 1944, was redesignated "Night Development Squadron Pacific (NightDevRonPac)" on 6 April 1946, then "Fighter All Weather Training Unit Pacific (FAWTUPAC)" on 1 September 1948 and finally, on the same day as the first squadron designated VF(AW)-3 was disestablished, 2 May 1958, was redesignated "All Weather Fighter Squadron THREE (VF(AW-3)". This second squadron to carry the VF(AW)-3 designation adopted the insignia and nickname "Blue Nemesis" from the first VF(AW)-3 and was the only U.S. Navy unit to be assigned to the

North American Air Defense Command North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ; , CDAAN), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and pr ...

History

First Squadron designated VF(AW)-3

Korean War

Composite Squadron 3 (VC-3) ''Blue Nemesis'' was established on 20 May 1949. VC-3 provided night fighter detachments aboard the aircraft carriers of the Pacific Fleet, flying the F4U-5N Corsair. Its aircraft were heavily engaged in the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, and Lt. Guy Bordelon of VC-3 became the only U.S. Navy "ace" during the war, after shooting down his fifth enemy plane on 16 July 1953, while detached ashore from the . After the war, the F2H-3 Banshee replaced the Corsair.

Transitional Training Unit

In August 1954 VC-3 assumed a new role as a transitional training unit transitioning fleet fighter squadrons into the latest high performance jet aircraft. It was the only squadron in the Navy to operate as such and was dubbed ''Cougar College'', ''Cutlass Classroom'', ''Fury Finishing School'' and ''Crusader College'' as it introduced the F9F-6 Cougar,

F7U Cutlass The Vought F7U Cutlass is a United States Navy carrier-based jet fighter and fighter-bomber designed and produced by the aircraft manufacturer Chance Vought. It was the first tailless production fighter in the United States as well as the Nav ...

FJ Fury North American FJ Fury (also ''North American F-1 Fury'') may refer to several members of a group of fighter and fighter-bomber aircraft, built by North American Aviation for the US Navy, and related in varying degrees to the F-86 Sabre this firm p ...

F3H Demon The McDonnell F3H Demon is a subsonic swept-wing carrier-based jet fighter aircraft designed and produced by the American manufacturer McDonnell Aircraft Corporation. It was the first swept wing jet fighter and the only single-engined carrier ...

F4D Skyray The Douglas F4D Skyray (later redesignated F-6 Skyray) is an American Carrier-based aircraft, carrier-based supersonic Fighter aircraft, fighter/Interceptor aircraft, interceptor designed and produced by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was th ...

, A4D Skyhawk and

F8U Crusader The Vought F-8 Crusader (originally F8U) is a single-engine, supersonic, carrier-based air superiority jet aircraft designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer Vought. It was the last American fighter that had guns as the primar ...

to the fleet. On 1 July 1956 the squadron was redesignated All-Weather Fighter Squadron 3 (VF(AW)-3) but it continued performing the same transitional training role it had been performing since 1954. The squadron was disestablished on 2 May 1958 when the specialized transitional training the squadron performed was no longer needed.

Second Squadron designated VF(AW)-3

Night Fighter Development and Training

The second squadron designated VF(AW)-3 was established on 22 May 1944 as the "Navy Air Training Unit-Pacific (NATUPAC)" at

Naval Air Station Barbers Point Naval Air Station Barbers Point , on O'ahu, home to John Rodgers (naval officer, World War I), John Rodgers Field (the original name of Honolulu International Airport), is a former United States Navy airfield closed in 1999, and renamed Kalaeloa ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, it was redesignated "Night Development Squadron Pacific" on 6 April 1946. Two years later, it was redesignated "Fighter All Weather Training Unit Pacific (FAWTUPAC)". Among other aircraft flown by the squadron was the Navy's first jet powered, radar equipped carrier based night fighter, the F3D-2 Skyknight. In 1957, the squadron began transitioning to the F4D-1 Skyray, receiving its first six aircraft during that year. When the transition was complete, the squadron was equipped with 25 F4Ds, based at

Naval Air Station North Island Naval Air Station North Island or NAS North Island , at the north end of the Coronado peninsula on San Diego Bay in San Diego, California, is part of the largest aerospace-industrial complex in the United States Navy – Naval Base Coronado (N ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Continental Air Defense role

On 2 May 1958 when the transitional training unit designated VF(AW)-3 was disestablished, Fleet All Weather Training Unit Pacific was redesignated All Weather Fighter Squadron 3 (VF(AW)-3) and it along with its F4D Skyrays assumed a continental air defense role assigned to the 27th Air Division of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

Norton Air Force Base Norton Air Force Base (1942–1994) was a United States Air Force facility east of downtown San Bernardino in San Bernardino County, California. Overview For the majority of its operational lifetime, Norton was a logistics depot and heavy-l ...

. Radar coverage was provided by an Air Force early warning radar site on

Mount Laguna Mount Laguna is a small census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California. It is approximately above sea level in a forest of Jeffrey pine, east of San Diego in the Laguna Mountains on the eastern edge of the Cleveland National Fores ...

, code-named "Anderson." In the late 1950s, the squadron averaged one or two actual scrambles and two or three training sorties per day. VF(AW)-3 consistently outperformed USAF interceptor squadrons in scramble time and intercept effectiveness. VFAW-3 won NORAD's "best performing unit" trophy, twice. The squadron also maintained an excellent safety record and superb aircraft-readiness rates. It benefitted in these fields from the proximity of the Douglas factory in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. After "Anderson" identified a target, VF(AW)-3 routinely scrambled two F4Ds in three minutes. In an emergency, all 25 aircraft could be scrambled in less than two hours. The Air Force radar vectored the aircraft to within 45 km of the contact, and the F4Ds completed the intercepts using their onboard radar, attempting to identify the contact without its being aware of their presence. On 29 March 1957, LtCdr Patrick F. Cunningham had an in-flight emergency and had to bail out of his A4D-1 fighter (BuNo 139924) over

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

. In response to the

Second Taiwan Strait Crisis The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, also known as the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis, was a conflict between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Taiwan, Republic of China (ROC). The PRC shelled the islands of Kinmen (Quemoy) and the Matsu Is ...

, VF(AW)-3 aircraft deployed to Taiwan in 1958.

Cuban Missile Crisis

After the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

, VF(AW)-3 also provided a detachment of six aircraft ("Detachment Echo") at

Naval Air Station Key West Naval Air Station Key West , is a naval air station and military airport located on Boca Chica Key, four miles (6 km) east of the central business district of Key West, Florida, United States., effective 2007-10-25 NAS Key West is an ai ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, in 1961, under control of the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD). The crews were rotated every eight weeks. In January 1962, after Cuba had received

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nicknames include: "''Balalaika''", because its planf ...

fighters, VF(AW)-3 kept four F4Ds on five-minute alert at all times. From 24 October to 31 December 1962, Detachment Echo of VF(AW)-3 received the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for participating in the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...

of 1962; at

NAS Key West Naval Air Station Key West , is a naval air station and military airport located on Boca Chica Key, four miles (6 km) east of the central business district of Key West, Florida, United States., effective 2007-10-25 NAS Key West is an ai ...

.Navy History.org FlightDeck Friday F4D Skyray Part 2
/ref> VF(AW)-3 was disestablished in April 1963.

Aircraft

; Grumman F8F-1 Bearcat *1946 - 1948 ; Grumman F7F-3 Tigercat *1946 - 1948 ;

Ryan FR-1 Fireball The Ryan FR Fireball is an American mixed-power (piston and jet-powered) fighter aircraft designed by Ryan Aeronautical for the United States Navy during World War II. It was the Navy's first aircraft with a jet engine. Only 66 aircraft were b ...

*1946 - 1949 ; F3D-2 Skyknight *1953 - 1958 ; Douglas F4D-1 Skyray *16 April 1956 - 1963 through April 1963 -

NAS North Island Naval Air Station North Island or NAS North Island , at the north end of the Coronado peninsula on San Diego Bay in San Diego, California, is part of the largest aerospace-industrial complex in the United States Navy – Naval Base Coronado ...

, San Diego, CA (tailcode ''PA'' 1945-1963) ;

Douglas A-4 Skyhawk The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single-seat subsonic carrier-capable light attack aircraft designed and produced by the American aerospace manufacturer Douglas Aircraft Company, and later, McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated A4D und ...

*1956-1957 -

NAS Moffett Field Moffett Federal Airfield , also known as Moffett Field, is a joint civil-military airport located in an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County, California, United States, between northern Mountain View and northern Sunnyvale. On November ...

, CA

References

External links

History in Illustration by Chris Banyai-Riepl
VFAW-3 aircraft colours {{United States Navy Aircraft Squadrons Strike fighter squadrons of the United States Navy