This history traces more than 40 years of active service by Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115. Since its commissioning in July 1943, the squadron has evolved from a group of wartime beginners in SNJ-4 planes to today's front-line professionals in their F/A-18 Hornets. These decades have seen VMFA-115 on active service in the Southwest Pacific, the Philippines, China, Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan, Western Europe, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and on both coasts of the United States. This volume offers an operational narrative account of one of the Marine Corps' best-known fighter squadrons. Holder of three Presidential Unit Citations and three times awarded the Hanson Trophy, VMFA-115 has built a distinguished career since 1943. It has played a prominent role in every national conflict from World War II to the Vietnam War, and has served in nearly every part of the globe. While this history deals with a particular squadron, it exemplifies the service of many other Marine fighter-attack squadrons.

"Selection of oral histories"--CD surface.

The US Marine Corps has a long heritage of aviation excellence, a reputation that was largely built on the impact and performance of the “flying leathernecks” in the bitter fighting in the Pacific during World War II. As the US island-hopping campaign against Japan gathered pace, US Marine Corps fighter squadrons operating legendary Grumman and Vought aircraft became instrumental in the success of amphibious assaults and in breaking fierce enemy resistance, engaging Japanese attack aircraft in the skies and ground-based targets while supporting and protecting US ground forces. The flying legends Marion Carl, Greg “Pappy” Boyington, Joe Foss and others were all World War II Marine fighter pilots, taking to the skies in Corsairs, Wildcats, Venturas and Hellcats. Aviation historian Barrett Tillman's comprehensive account US Marine Corps Fighter Squadrons of World War II pays homage to these individuals and their mounts, and is packed with historic and organizational details of the squadrons who took to the skies above the Pacific.