VMFA-232 Red Devils — Red Air

VMFA-232 "Red Devils" · USMC · 2000s-2020s

Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 232 traces its lineage to VF-3M, commissioned 1 September 1925 at NAS San Diego, making it the oldest and most decorated fighter attack squadron in the Marine Corps — its horned devil first appeared on squadron aircraft in the 1930s and has survived every redesignation since. This variant of that emblem is a "red air" patch, worn when the Red Devils fly the adversary side in dissimilar air combat training, with the squadron designation rendered in mock-Cyrillic block letters as a nod to the aggressor's borrowed nationality. The gag works twice over: a squadron already dressed in red and horns needs very little help to play the bad guys. The Red Devils flew the F/A-18 Hornet from MCAS Miramar with Marine Aircraft Group 11 through their centennial in 2025, with a transition to the F-35C planned for the end of the decade.