VF-32 SWORDSMEN
Call sign "Gypsy"

Commanding Officers
CDR G.C. Buhrer CDR L. Hoke, Jr. CDR J.S. Christiansen
CDR F.C. Turner CDR E.J. Clayton CDR G.J. Gray
CDR A.V. Barber CDR J.T. Timidaiski

DATES OF F-8 OPERATIONS:   25 March 1957 - 1 August 1965

MODELS OF F-8 EQUIPPED:   F8U-1 in 1957   F8U-E1 in 1959   F8U-2N in 1961

CRUISES:

DATES: TO: CAG: Carrier:
1 Feb 1958 - 1 Oct 1958 Mediterranean CVW-3 (AC) USS Saratoga CV-60
15 Aug 1959 - 26 Feb 1960 Mediterranean CVW-3 (AC) USS Saratoga CV-60
22 Aug 1960 - 26 Feb 1961 Mediterranean / North Atlantic CVW-3 (AC) USS Saratoga CV-60
5 Jul 1961 - 22 Aug 1961 Caribbean CVW-3 (AC) USS Saratoga CV-60
28 Nov 1961 - 12 May 1962 Mediterranean CVW-3 (AC) USS Saratoga CV-60
3 Dec 1962 - 21 Dec 1962 Caribbean / Cuba CVW-3 (AC) USS Saratoga CV-60
29 Mar 1963 - 25 Oct 1963 Mediterranean CVW-3 (AC) USS Saratoga CV-60
28 Nov 1964 - 12 Jul 1965 Mediterranean CVW-3 (AC) USS Saratoga CV-60

SIGNIFICANT OPERATIONS:
  • First fleet fighter squadron to be equipped with the F8U-1 Crusader & to fly supersonic in 1957.
  • Participated in the Lebanese conflict of 1958.
  • Flew sorties in support of photoreconnaissance flights and intelligence gathering missions during the Cuban missile crisis in late 1962.

March 25, 1957

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

                                        ---Aviation Week, March 1957

VF-32 214, BuNo 142413, is the 39th Crusader off the assembly line.
Note the Tail Code "K". Later the Navy changed to a double letter to indicate the Air Group.

Four Swordsmen F-8 Crusaders fly by the USS Saratoga CV-60.       Circa November 1965


Sorry, under construction. Your signal delta, max conserve.

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