VMAT-203 Hawks Eagle

VMAT-203 "Hawks" (Marine Attack Training Squadron 203) · USMC · 1972-2021

Marine Attack Training Squadron 203 was redesignated from VMT-1 on 1 May 1972 at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina, taking up the light-attack training mission with A-4M and TA-4J Skyhawks before moving to the V/STOL world with the AV-8A Harrier. For nearly five decades it was the Fleet Replacement Squadron that taught every Marine Harrier pilot to hover, wearing tail code KD on the Cherry Point flight line and training allied aircrews alongside its own. This early insignia keeps the squadron's attack roots in plain sight — a bald eagle gripping a general-purpose bomb against a red, white and blue chevron, the bird of prey that gave the "Hawks" their name. The squadron was decommissioned on 29 October 2021 as the Corps completed its shift to the F-35, its mission passing to an AV-8B Fleet Replacement Detachment.