VMA(AW)-533 Hawks

Marine All-Weather Attack Squadron 533 (VMA(AW)-533) "Hawks" · USMC · 1965-1992

Commissioned in 1943 as the night fighters of VMF(N)-533, the squadron took the name "Hawks" in 1959 and became VMA(AW)-533 in 1965 when it traded Skyhawks for the all-weather A-6A Intruder. Flying from Chu Lai from April 1967, the Hawks logged more than 10,000 combat sorties over Vietnam; on 25 October 1967 three of its Intruders struck Phuc Yen airfield outside Hanoi in an action so fiercely defended that all three pilots received the Navy Cross. Later years took the squadron to Nam Phong, Thailand, and MCAS Cherry Point before the Intruder era closed on 1 September 1992, when the unit redesignated VMFA(AW)-533 and moved to the F/A-18D. The Latin scroll, In Hoc Signo Vinces — "In this sign you will conquer" — has ridden the squadron's insignia across every airframe it has flown.