Heavy Attack Squadron 21
VAH-21 patch
Active1 September 1968-16 June 1969
CountryUnited States
BranchUnited States Navy
RoleAttack
Part ofInactive
Nickname(s)Roadrunners
EngagementsVietnam War
Aircraft flown
AttackAP-2H Neptune
VAH-21 AP-2H at NAS Patuxent River in 1969
Former VAH-21 AP-2H on display at the Pima Air & Space Museum

VAH-21, nicknamed the Roadrunners, was a short-lived Heavy Attack Squadron of the U.S. Navy, based at Naval Station Sangley Point, Philippines. The squadron flew the specialized AP-2H version of the Lockheed P-2 Neptune aircraft, of which four examples were converted from standard SP-2H airframes.[1]

Operations

The squadron was established on 1 September 1968, as the first squadron in the Navy with a night interdiction mission using new electronic surveillance equipment. Its mission was to interdict logistics moving over land or sea. A detachment of VAH-21 was immediately established at a Navy facility associated with Cam Ranh Air Base, South Vietnam. The detachment had been a Naval Air Test Center Project TRIM Detachment (TRIM: Trails Roads Interdiction Multi-sensor) prior to becoming a VAH-21 detachment. VAH-21 was disestablished on 16 June 1969.[1]

See also

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons.

  1. ^ a b Grossnick, Roy A. (1995). "VAH-21" (pdf). Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons. Vol. 1. Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center. p. 300.

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