Strike Fighter Squadron 2 (VFA-2) Bounty Hunters (call sign Bullet) returned from their most recent Western Pacific (WestPac) deployment aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) with Carrier Air Wing Two (CVW-2) in June of 2017. VFA-2, equipped with Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet strike fighters, is based at Navy Master Jet Base Naval Air Station (NAS) Lemoore located in California’s Central Valley. During this WestPac the Vinson made port calls in Hawaii, Guam, South Korea, and Singapore. Major operations undertaken by VFA-2 and the rest of CVW-2 included Key Resolve and Foal Eagle 2017 exercises with South Korea. Here at Avgeekery.com we loves us some cruise videos, and this one contains lots of eye-popping visuals with a sweet soundtrack and plenty of things that went boom. The video was uploaded to YouTube by Mike Bellavia. Enjoy!
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VFA-2’s lineage goes all the way back to 1922 when they flew from the Navy’s first aircraft carrier, USS Langley as Fighting Two (VF-2). During World War II VF-2 flew Grumman F6F Hellcats with great success in the Pacific Theatre. In 1972 the squadron was reconstituted and along with VF-1 Wolfpack was equipped with some of the very first operational Grumman F-14A Tomcat air superiority fighters. 32 years later VF-2 became VFA-2 when they transitioned from their F-14D Tomcats to the Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet. Over the course of its history VFA-2 has won just about every award and competition in their community. And their CAG birds have always been some of the fleet’s sharpest looking jets.
VFA-2 was joined aboard the Vinson by VFA-137 Kestrels (F/A-18E), VFA-192 World Famous Golden Dragons (F/A-18E), VFA-34 Blue Blasters (F/A-18C), Electronic Attack Squadron 136 (VAQ-136) Gauntlets, (E/A-18G Growler), Airborne Early Warning Squadron 113 (VAW-113) Black Eagles (Grumman E-2C Hawkeye 2000), Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 4 (HSC-4) Black Knights (Sikorsky MH-60S Seahawk), Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 78 (HSM-78) Blue Hawks, (Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk), and Fleet Logistics Squadron 30 (VRC-30) Providers Detachment 2 Roughnecks (Grumman C-2A(R) Greyhound).
