Hobby Master Archive

VF-102 was established on July 1, 1955 in Jacksonville, Florida equipped with the F2H Banshee and then the F4D-1 Skyray followed by the F-4 Phantom II and the F-14A. After Jacksonville their home bases have been NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia, NAS Lemoore, California where they were renamed VFA-102 training to use the new F/A-18F. Finally in 2003 the Diamondbacks moved to Atsugi, Japan. In 2005 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the squadron F/A-18F 165882 received an eye-catching paint scheme of red and white with a Diamondback snake on the tail.