Carrier Airborne Early Warning squadron ONE TWO FOUR (VAW-124) Bear Aces deployed with the rest of Carrier Air Wing EIGHT (CVW-8) aboard the Nimitz-class carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) between 21 January 2017 and 21 August 2017. The Bear Aces put together a cruise video from footage shot during their 2017 deployment. It’s a great look at not only the VAW community but carrier aviation in general. The images are crisp and super-sharp. Great slow-motion effects too. The video was uploaded to YouTube by A.J. N. Enjoy!
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VAW-124 was originally named the Bullseye Hummers. The squadron, equipped with Grumman E-2 Hawkeyes of one variant or another since their establishment in 1967, picked up the nickname Bear Aces when VAW-124 deployed to Naval Air Station (NAS) Keflavik in Iceland for Christmas 1980. Oh joy! But the Bullseye Hummers ran so many intercepts of Soviet Tu-95 Bear bombers while enjoying the Holidays at Kef that the Bear Aces moniker just stuck to them. That’s the way to get a call sign! The Bear Aces are shore based at NAS Norfolk when not deployed.
During their deployment aboard the Bush in 2017, CVW-8 consisted of VFA-37 Bulls flying what might be their last deployment in McDonnell Douglas (Boeing) F/A-18C Hornets, VFA-31 Tomcatters and VFA-87 Golden Warriors flying the single seat Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet, VFA-213 Fighting Blacklions flying the Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet, VAW-124 Bear Aces flying the Grumman E-2C Hawkeye, VAQ-131 Lancers flying the Boeing EA-18G Growler, HSC-9 Tridents flying the Sikorsky MH-60S Seahawk, HSM-70 Spartans flying the Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk, and VRC-40 Rawhides Detachment 2 flying the Grumman C-2A Greyhound COD.
