The “Ghostriders” of VF-142 were established in August 1948 as VF-193, then were redesignated to their final designation in October 1963. Transitioning from the F-4Js on the West Coast, they began flying the F-14 Tomcat in 1974, and switched to an East Coast squadron based at NAS Oceana, VA. They made their first carrier deployment aboard the USS America (CV-66), then transitioned to flying the A+ (later known as the F-14B) in 1991. They transited the Suez Canal and participated in Desert Shield, but were withdrawn before the beginning of Desert Storm. They were decommissioned in the mid 1990’s.
