VF-14 TOPHATTERS on TOP!

from the Summer '98 issue of "The HOOK" Magazine

Message trafic at the end of February ['98] brought great news to the Tophatters - the Commander Naval Air Forces Atlantic selected Fighter Squadron 14 for the Battle Efficiency award, ranking it first among the East Coast F-14 squadrons. It's an honor that comes at a particularly apropos moment in the life of the Tophatters, having concluded their first operational deployment since the winter of 1993 in John F. Kennedy last October. Originally slated to disestablish late in 1995, Fighting 14 began transition from "standing down," with their aircraft in preservation, to becoming a fully combatready squadron in 1996 when the Tophatters changed course and joined Carrier Air Wing Eight for a full round of work ups and deployment.

"It was a big challenge," relates the commanting officer, CDR Luke R. PArent, "but we were blessed with an enormous amount of talent, and a squadron full of dedicated individuals who pulled together as a team. Every aspect of the squadron from administration to safety and training was very strong, and our maintenance department was simply outstanding. It was truly rewarding to watch our squadron pull together and excel as we got deeper into the deployment circle."

The Tophatters reached severaly milestones in the course of this cruise. The squadron developed and implemented new tactics utilizing the Tomcat's new precision LANTIRN pods, in both the close-air support and surface-search environments. In fact, LANTIRN utilization reached an unprecedented high during this deployment - more than 800 sorties and 1,300 flight hours, including peace keeping missions over Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iraq. The squadron planned and led air wing dets to Jordan and France, as well as Operation Beacon Flash, the most intensive exercise with the nation of Oman in a decade. These tactical and operational achievements were supported by a maintenance department committed to excellence.

While on deployment, the squadron sustained a 98.7 percent sortie completion rate, the best in CVW-8. Tophatter maintenance was recognized for its accomplishments with three Carrier Air Wing Eight Golden Wrench awards, a first for any Tomcat squadron in the history of Air Wing Eight.

"Certainly we appreciate this honor," notes CDR Parent, "but we hope we've accomplished more here than simply shining the spotlight on ourselves. I think we've demonstrated that the Tomcat is still a maintainable and extremely effective asset for the TacAir community."