The Black Aces were established as Fighter Squadron 41 (VF-41) on September 1, 1950, beginning their history flying the F2H Banshee. The squadron later transitioned to the F3H Demon and then the F-4 Phantom II. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, VF-41 deployed near Key West in support of the naval quarantine, and the squadron later flew combat missions during the Vietnam War.
By the end of the 1970s, the Black Aces had transitioned to the F-14 Tomcat. On August 19, 1981, VF-41 Tomcats shot down two Libyan Su-22s over the Mediterranean, recording the first air-to-air victories for the F-14. The squadron later flew combat operations during Desert Storm and became the first Tomcat squadron to employ air-to-ground ordnance against enemy targets during Operation Deliberate Force over Bosnia in 1995.
Following the September 11 attacks, VF-41 flew some of the opening missions of Operation Enduring Freedom during its final F-14 deployment. In December 2001, the squadron was redesignated VFA-41 and became the first operational F/A-18F Super Hornet squadron. Today, the Black Aces continue to fly the two-seat F/A-18F, carrying forward more than seven decades of Naval Aviation history and their enduring motto, “First to Fight, First to Strike.”
