1945

  1 February: In accordance with a secret dispatch order, Bombing - Fighting Squadron THREE was established by the Commanding Officer of the USS Yorktown (CV-10) with Lt. Cmdr Fritz WOLF as Commanding Officer.

  16 February: The morning was a heavy blanketing overcast that force the first sweep to turn back to the Yorktown. Lt.Cmdr. Wolf took his VBF-3 pilots in low, flying into the base of the clouds and from there making the attacks. Thus becoming the first Navy carrier-based Squadron to attack the sacred soil of the Empire of Japan. During the heavy action on that day, the squadron totaled 24 airborne kills of Japanese aircraft for which they were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.

  20 – 22 February: After the two and half day attack on the mainland of Japan, the Yorktown’s battle group sailed back to Iwo Jima to give support to the Marines landing on that island, justifying the "B" in their name but finding little opportunity to embellish the "F".

  20 - 28 March: Departed Pearl Harbor aboard the USS LEXINGTON (CV-16) and arrived at Bremerton, Washington. All personnel received thirty days leave.

  7 May: Squadron reforms at Naval Air Station, Wildwood, N.J. to begin training.

  2 September: Japan surrenders, ending the Second World War.

1946

  3 July: Eight planes from the Squadron departs for Ripley, West Virginia to participate in a Fourth of July Celebration.

  25 September: Squadron received four of the F8F-1 "Bearcat" as the first of an entire new complement of this type of aircraft.

1957

  25 March: Vought Aircraft delivers the first F8U-1 Crusader supersonic Naval jet fighter to Fighter Squadron 32 at NAS Cecil Field, Florida, within a record two years from the first experimental test flight.

1958

  15 July: The USS Saratoga was in the Western Mediterranean and came steaming with reinforcements to aid the USS Essex which was stationed off the coast of Lebanon. Lebanese Muslims and Druzes instigated the Lebanese Civil War who was inspired by the revolutionary overthrow of the monarchy in Iraq and the killing of the entire royal family. President Camille Chamoun of Lebanon summoned the ambassadors of the United States, Britain, and France on the morning of July 14. He requested immediate assistance, insisting that the independence of Lebanon will be in jeopardy. Carrier Air Group 3 (CAG-3), prepared a large number of fighters and fighter-bombers for flying combat air patrol over Lebanon, so to ensure against any foreign invasion, including a plan for a nuclear war against the Soviet Union (USSR). Fighter Squadron 32 equipped with the new F-8 Crusader had a highly successful cruise: within the 23 days of operations off Lebanon, the pilots accumulated 1295 flying hours without a single accident.

1959

1960

1961

  March: The Squadron received the Navy's first F8U-2N aircraft.

1962

  16 March: A competition for a state-of-the-art fighter for French Naval Aviation was eventually narrowed to the F-4 Phantoms and the F-8 Crusaders. After a pair of VF-32 F-8s conducted flight operations on the French carrier Clemenceau (R-98), the French realized that the F-8 "fit" their carriers Clemenceau and Foch (R-99) better than the Phantom. The F-8 was chosen as the next-generation French Navy fighter. Later the French Connection continues with the Swordsmen sending some of its Crusaders to the French Navy when VF-32 transitioned to the F-4 Phantoms in 1965

  15 October to 15 November: During the Cuban Misslie Crisis, VF-32 maintained a detachment of six F8U-2N's at NAS Key West under the operational control of COMKEYWESTFOR. Many hours were spent on 15 minute alert duty and 96 sorties were flown in support of photo reconnaissance flights and other intelligence gathering missions over Cuba.

1963

  19 March: The Commanding Officer, CDR E.J. Clayton was killed when his F-8D crashed on the flight deck during night air operations. CDR Gordon "Gordo" L. Gray immediataly became Commanding Officer.

1965

  1 August: The squadron turned in their F-8 Crusaders and moved to NAS Oceana, Virginia, and converted to the F-4 Phantom II.