Fighter Squadron 171 or VF-171 was an aviation unit of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

. Originally established as Fighter Squadron 82 (VF-82) on 1 April 1944, it was redesignated VF-17A on 15 November 1946, redesignated as VF-171 on 11 August 1948 and disestablished on 15 March 1958.

Operational history

VF-17A was the first Navy squadron to operate the

McDonnell FH Phantom The McDonnell FH Phantom is a twinjet, straight-wing, carrier-based fighter aircraft designed and first flown during late World War II for the United States Navy. As a first-generation jet fighter, the Phantom was the first purely jet-powered ...

receiving its first aircraft in August 1947 and its full complement of 24 aircraft by 29 May 1948. VF-17A became the Navy's first fully operational jet carrier squadron when it deployed aboard on 5 May 1948. Due to the shortcomings of the FH-1, VF-171 became the first squadron to be equipped with F2H-1 Banshees in March 1949. The first emergency use of an ejection seat by a U.S. aircraft occurred in August 1949 when a VF-171 pilot successfully ejected from his F2H-1 after losing control due to aircraft icing at high altitude. VF-171 was part of Carrier Air Group 17 (CVG-17) embarked on when it took part in

Exercise Mainbrace Exercise Mainbrace was the first large-scale naval exercise undertaken by the newly established Allied Command Atlantic (ACLANT), one of the two principal military commands of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It was part of a serie ...

in September 1952. VF-171 and CVG-17 embarked on USS ''Franklin D. Roosevelt'' for a Mediterranean deployment from July 1957 to March 1958. During this deployment it participated in

Operation Deep Water Operation Deep Water was a 1957 NATO naval exercise held in the Mediterranean Sea that simulated protecting the Dardanelles from a Soviet invasion. By controlling this bottleneck in a war situation, the Soviet Black Sea Fleet would be prevented f ...

in September 1957.

Home port assignments

NAS Quonset Point Quonset Point Air National Guard Station is the home base of the Rhode Island Air National Guard 143rd Airlift Wing. Naval Air Station (NAS) Quonset Point was a United States Navy, United States Naval Base in Quonset Point, Rhode Island that was ...

Aircraft assignment

F8F Bearcat The Grumman F8F Bearcat is an American single-engined, carrier-based fighter aircraft introduced in late World War II. It served during the mid-20th century in the United States Navy, the United States Marine Corps, and the air forces of other na ...

* FH-1 Phantom * F2H-2/3 Banshee

Notable former members

* William N. Leonard

References

External links