Description
VMFAT-101 Sharpshooters Shoulder Patch — Fighter Attack Starts Here
Every Marine Hornet pilot in the fleet passed through the Sharpshooters. Every. Single. One.
VMFAT-101 “Sharpshooters” was the Marine Corps’ F/A-18 Hornet Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS), based at MCAS Miramar, California, under MAG-11 and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. Commissioned in 1969 at MCAS El Toro, the squadron originally trained aviators on the F-4 Phantom II before transitioning to the F/A-18 Hornet in 1987. With over 60 aircraft — three times the size of a typical Hornet squadron — VMFAT-101 trained replacement pilots, weapons systems officers, and maintenance Marines through an intense 44-week syllabus covering transition, air-to-ground, air-to-air, and carrier qualification phases. The Sharpshooters were deactivated on September 29, 2023, after 54 years of service, as the Marine Corps transitions to the F-35 Lightning II under Force Design 2030. They were the last remaining F/A-18 Hornet training squadron in the entire Department of the Navy.
Perfect For: VMFAT-101 Sharpshooters Marines and veterans, F/A-18 Hornet community, MCAS Miramar squadrons, MAG-11 and 3rd MAW personnel, Hornet FRS instructors and students, and anyone who earned their Hornet wings through the Sharpshooters.
VMFAT-101 — 54 years, thousands of aviators, one legendary squadron.
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