VFA-242

Strike Fighter Squadron 242 (VFA-242), also known as the Red Foxes or Flying Foxes and under the callsign “Foxtrot” or “Red,” is a United States Navy strike fighter squadron stationed at Naval Air Station Lemoore flying the F/A-18E Super Hornet. The Flying Foxes are known because of two things; being among the first squadrons to receive the F/A-18 Hornet and being made up of pilots who were red foxes, both organic and animatronic.

Within the Foxtrot: Foxes in Arms series, VFA-242 is under the direct command of Captain Justin Redding, who is also the squad's flight leader. The squad would go on to see the front lines of the 2018-2020 Russo-American War, and would also get much notoriety for the pilot's valorous actions on the front lines.

Formation
VFA-242 was formed in early March of 1983 at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The first batch of pilots were trained under another squadron and was among the first to receive the then brand new McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet multirole jet fighter. At the time of its creation, VFA-242 was attached to Carrier Air Wing 3 (CVW-3), which was based aboard the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67).

Within the squad's early days, something became immediately apparent about the squad's make up. All of the pilots and most of the other supporting crew within the squad was made up almost exclusively of foxes, whether they have red fur or not. That led to the squadron being nicknamed "Red Foxes" by pilots from other Navy squadrons, and though it wasn't looked up to, the name would eventually stick. However, the pilots would end up changing the name to "Flying Foxes" as that matched their nature very well.

Combat Outings
Embarking from the John F. Kennedy, the Flying Foxes first saw combat over the country of Libya, mostly air-to-ground operations including the bombings within Libya in 1986.

Coalition Sorties Against Iraq
Some time later, the ship would be sent to the Mediterranean Sea an a no-notice deployment. VFA-242 aircraft in assistance with bombing raids on enemy positions such as bunkers, command and control centers, and radar stations. And while enemy aircraft did pose a threat to the squadron, they never directly engaged enemy air forces over hostile territory. Surface-to-air missile (SAM) launchers posed the main threat, and during the conflict, an aircraft was damaged after taking a hit from a SAM site. Upon exiting the combat zone, the aircraft was forced to ditch into the Gulf with the pilot safely ejecting and later rescued.

Within a few short weeks, the Coalition managed to gain air superiority over the enemy, with VFA-242 having contributed quite a bit after going through all that. Following the end of this war, the squad would continue to fly combat sorties from the Med from the carriers USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) and USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) over several deployments to the region. Within the coming deployments, pilots came an went, though upon a deployment from USS Enterprise (CVN-65) would see all the current members of the squad officially coming together in one way or another.

Considerable Changes to Usual Operations.
By the time Operation Desert Fox ended, and the Enterprise had returned to its home port of Norfolk, Virginia, Justin would step down as the flight leader and ultimately resign from the Navy. Felix, the next highest rank to him, took over the role of flight leader, though he'd end up sharing it with Shirley Yeager, a vixen that was the same rank as him.

The 21st Century would see the squad taking part in both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom at the start of the Iraq War. With Felix as combat leader, VFA-242 was deployed back to Iraq as a part of CVW-3 for the final time, this time operating from the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) on the carrier's maiden deployment. with the rest of CVN-3, VFA-242 conducted Response Options strikes, to include the largest strike over Iraq since Operation Desert Fox, in support of Operation Southern Watch and maritime interdiction operations, returning home on 23 May 2001.

Following the end of this deployment, the Flying Foxes transferred from Carrier Air Wing 3 in the Atlantic over to Carrier Air Wing 11 in the Pacific. Its HQ was thus changed from NAS Oceana in Virginia to NAS Lemoore in California (also changing the planes' tail codes from AC to NH). Future deployments in the Pacific saw the squad coupled with carriers USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) for numerous exercises throughout the West and South Pacific. What should be noted is that VFA-242 actually traveled from Virginia to California with the Ronald Reagan during her maiden voyage.

Prelude to War
As the years went by, the squad would see more and more deployments with the Nimitz in anti-terrorist operations, but it would be due to a sudden military buildup that pushed everyone in the military to be at a heightened sense of awareness and readiness. Around this time, a rather young pilot by the name of Justin Redding had been added to VFA-242's ranks as one of the newest pilots of the squad. By 2017, VFA-242 was still operating against terrorist organizations when a new threat began to materialize that posed a real danger to American national security. This meant more deployments, and surprisingly, more action for the pilots. Just before the beginning of this new conflict, Justin, quickly becoming a Commander, took over as the active flight leader for the squadron leading the Flying Foxes. It would take some time for newer pilots to know each other, but the ones Justin acquainted himself with, namely Felix Radcliff and Autumn Rowan, would form a close bond.

Around mid 2017, they were sent with the Nimitz to destroy and enemy stronghold, with the recently recommissioned battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) being part of the attack force. VFA-242 provided Close Air Support (CAP) sorties throughout the entire engagement. In particular, Justin distinguished himself by successfully striking more targets than most of the other pilots. This would officially earn him the nickname of "Red Wind," which many enemy ground positions referred to him as whenever they saw his aircraft fly passed. Though no official war was declared, military action like this only seemed to increase as days turned to weeks, and weeks turned to months, and so on.

Though the biggest action the foxy pilots of VFA-242 would come within the waning months of 2018, where an event so shocking would start a way on a scale not seen since the Second World War.

Roster (As of 2019)

 * Captain Justin F. "Red Wind" Redding (Red Leader)
 * Commander Felix "Longshot" Radcliff (Red 2)
 * Captain Shirley "Dynamo" Yeager (Red 3)
 * Lieutenant Commander Autumn "Ax" Rowan (Red 4)
 * Lieutenant Ash "In Luv" Russell (Red 5)
 * Lieutenant Scout "Angel" Linwood (Red 6)

Individual Aircraft Numbers
The numbers of each pilot's plane is listed here.


 * Justin- 411
 * Felix - 410
 * Shirley - 412
 * Autumn - 413
 * Ash - 414
 * Scout - 415

Trivia

 * VFA-242 may be fictional, but many of its historical background comes from actual events.
 * - In fact, the squad shares its number with VMFA-242, a Marine Corps fighter squadron nicknamed the "Bats."
 * The whole idea of this squadron stemmed from the idea of Justin not just being a fighter pilot, but also the leaser of his own squad.
 * While Arthur and Sewell command either real ships or real flotillas (destroyer squadrons), Justin, along with Vienna are given command of fictional military units within their respective branches.
 * While the squadron call signs are not realistic, they are a reference to the Star Wars movies, specifically the first film, lately listed as Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Many aspects of the squad's history is based on VFA-131, also known as the "Wildcats."
 * An official insignia has yet to be made for VFA-242, but 2-D renderings of the aircraft depict the squad's insignia to be a red fox with wings.
 * The "Foxtrot" call sign the squad carries is an unintended reference to the series as a whole, as the call sign was devised before a title came about.