VA-72 Blue Hawks Squadron Patch – Sew on

VA-72 Blue Hawks Squadron Patch – Plastic Backing Attack Squadron 72 (VA-72) was an aviation unit of the U.S. Navy. It was established as Bomber Fighter Squadron 18 (VBF-18) on 25 January 1945. The squadron was redesignated as Fighter Squadron 8A (VF-8A) on 15 November 1946, as VF-72 on 28 July 1948, and finally as VA-72 on 3 January 1956. It was disestablished on 30 June 1991. The squadron’s nickname from 1945 to 1950 was “Bearcats”, followed by “Hawks” until 1962, and the Blue Hawks from that point forward. Its first insignia, a bearcat, was approved in 1946; a new one, featuring a peregrine falcon, was approved in 1950. Its last insignia, with a blue hawk, was current from 1956 until the squadron’s disestablishment 35 years later. Operational history September–December 1946: Participated in USS Leyte’s shakedown cruise in the Caribbean Sea and a goodwill cruise to South America for the inauguration of Chile’s President Gabriel González Videla. 19 August 1948: Squadron commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander B. F. Haker, lost at sea while attempting a carrier approach. 25 January 1949: Cross deck operations with the British carrier HMS Triumph in the Mediterranean. April 1961: The squadron operated from USS Independence in an area south of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the unsuccessful invasion of Cuba by American supported Cuban exiles. 22 October–22 November 1962: Participated in the Cuban Quarantine while embarked on Independence. 10–16 May 1963: A detachment of three aircraft deployed on USS Wasp to provide courier service during a Project Mercury space flight of the Faith 7 capsule. 17 October 1965: The squadron’s executive officer, Commander H. B. Southworth, led the first successful strike against a surface-to-air SA-2 missile installation in North Vietnam. The strike was composed of four VA-72 A-4Es and one A-6A from VA-75.