WarBirds VF-101

The United States Navy fighter squadron VF-101, the Grim Reapers, began life as VF-10 in June of 1942. The new F4F Wildcat squadron was formed by Lieutenant Commander Jimmy Flatley in San Diego, California and evolved into the famous "Mowing Machine" that was the only fighter squadron in World War II to fly the F4FWildcat, the F6F Hellcat, and the F4U Corsair. The squadron motto of "Mow 'em down!" served VF-10 well as they fought out the war in the Pacific Theater flying from bases in the Solomons and from various aircraft carriers. When VF-10 was formed, LtCmdr Flatley had just returned from the Battle of Coral Sea with two kills and the Navy Cross. LtCmdr Flatley, along with LtCmdr Jimmy Thach, was considered a master of fighter tactics. On his way to San Diego, Flatley wrote a comprehensive fighter doctrine for his new squadron. That new doctrine and Flatley's superb leadership were a highly successful combination against the much more maneuverable Japanese Zeros.

The Reapers' first combat deployment saw them flying F4F Wildcats from the USS Enterprise in October 1942. VF-10 arrived in time for the Battle of Santa Cruz, a carrier vs. carrier fight to protect US forces in Guadalcanal. Shortly after, Flatley was promoted to Commander, Air Group 10. When Commander Flatley left the Reapers he reminded them to never forget their lost brothers and told them that when they engaged the enemy to "rip 'em up and down, but do it smartly." VF-10 finished their first deployment in 1942.

VF-10 returned to combat in 1944 aboard the USS Enterprise as part of Task Force 58; a nine aircraft carrier force. The Reapers were now led by LtCmdr William "Killer" Kane and flew the F6F Hellcat while flying missions over the Japanese stronghold of Truk. During VF-10's first mission over Truk on 16 February 1945, the Reapers shot down fourteen aircraft and destroyed another seventeen on the ground. "Killer" and his wingman accounted for five of the kills themselves. In the period between February and April, VF-10 helped reduce the number of Japanese warplanes on Truk from over 350 to less than a dozen. Task Force 58 and the Reapers continued to sail deeper into Japanese held waters and right into the Marianas Turkey Shoot. The squadron finished it's second cruise shortly thereafter.

The Reapers rejoined the fight in March 1945 and flew F4U Corsairs from the USS Intrepid as part of Task Force 58 again. The squadron flew missions over Japan and Okinawa but spent April and May defending the fleet from the swarms of kamikaze attacks. The Reapers had their best day ever on 16 April when they downed thirty-two planes. LtJG Phil Kirkwood's division shot down twenty aircraft in one mission. The Ace of Kirkwood's division, Ensign Alfred Lerch, splashed six Ki-27 Nates and one D3A Val in one sortie. In a span of thirty-four days, VF-10 racked up eighty-five kills to one Reaper lost.

The Grim Reapers' designation switched to VF-101 in 1952 as they flew the F2 Banshee and the F4D Skyray during their last years as a fleet squadron. VF-101 became the Replacement Air Group for the East coast flying the F4D and the F3H Demon out of NAS Oceana in 1958. The Reapers added the F4 Phantom to their RAG duties in 1959. While the bulk of the squadron was based at NAS Oceana, a detachment taught Air Combat Maneuvering in Key West, Florida. VF-101 became the RAG for the new F14 Tomcat in 1976 when VF-41 and VF-84 began their transitions from the Phantom and the Reapers debuted the F14A Plus in 1988. VF-101 flies Tomcats to this day. The Reapers hold the honor of preparing every East Coast F14 crew for combat before they report to their fleet squadrons, an assignment worthy of their history.

In the Summer of 1995, enemy pilots flying the virtual skies of a game called WarBirds, then known as Confirmed Kill, took note of a troubling development and experienced something new to them. Fear. "It started many years ago with two guys who were heavy into flight sims. We were pretty much best friends and shared a common fondness for computers and games. We were both members of a Squad in Air Warriors, but we weren't really thrilled with it. The common phrase was "if I were running this group I'd..." but it never happened. We flew our missions, often without seeing a bandit, and thought of how we would do it if we were in charge. We knew we had dues to pay and we were paying them big time. As a result of the way the Squad was handled we both eventually lost interest in Air Warrior and moved on. We separated not only from the game but also from each other, different locations and different lives.

"We had "occasion" to get back together again for a short while in July '95. During this time I was introduced to a new on-line sim called Confirmed Kill. It was still in beta but showed a lot of promise...and it was free! We flew lone wolf for awhile and he began racking up quite a reputation as an ace. Several players on-line had asked him to form a Squadron, but he wasn't sure he wanted the responsibility, he still had a bad taste in his mouth from before. One night, sort of on a whim, he talked to his roommate and I about "what if...". He knew he couldn't do it alone without it turning out just like the Squad on AW. It was decided that WE would give it a try together, each taking on a different responsibility within the Squad. Our goal was to make sure that we always remembered what we didn't like about being in the other squad, and that we made it fun for everyone and kept it interesting. We "hired" a trainer who was a near expert in tactics and willing to teach. Many long hours were spent on the phone setting up the Squad and making sure that everything was perfect. Within a few days the Grim Reapers were born."

"The first mission was a killer on my nerves. The three of us, Alleycat, Badluck, and myself, planned for over a week; sitting at the kitchen table, in the living room, around the computer, anytime we could meet. Alleycat had been amassing players on-line and I had been reviewing maps and checking stats. We had decided on how the Squad would be broken down into flights and such and picked names for the groups. We had decided to pattern ourselves after a Navy squadron with appropriate command structure. We even came up with a way of putting out "official" mission orders by copying the format for a military SITREP (Situation Report). I didn't have a computer that was capable of running the sim and had to use one pieced together by these guys. There were three of us and only two phone connections at the house. It seemed like so many problems and so little time, but I found myself enjoying the frantic pace. For once it WAS our squad and WE could make the rules!"

"The mission was simple, capture and hold one of four enemy fields for the entire mission time of two hours. We figured it would be quite a task for our newly formed rag tag bunch of Naval Aviators. This group had never flown together, and Alleycat and I had never really led a group like this before. All three of us had military backgrounds but this was different. Plans were checked and re-checked, made and re-made...then checked again. I wasn't sure that we were ready and was nervous that my first ever mission would be a flop, that Alleycat would freeze up in his first leading role, or that something would go wrong to break the group up before we even got started!"


"To get that third phone line it was decided that Alleycat and I would go to the building where he worked (taking his computer with us) and use the phone lines from the office. After all it was late at night and no one would be there, right? We took along two remote wireless headsets so that we could be in constant contact with each other during the mission. I figured I would be too busy typing to the Squad to have comms with him, the headsets were a God send. So we get to the office and guess what..."Hi Boss, what are you doing here"?

"The boss did eventually leave, and we had just enough time to get the gear set up and get on-line. Alleycat and I were in separate rooms, but with the headgear that wasn't really a problem. The attack on the enemy field was almost flawless! We captured it by doing an end-a-round and hitting a rear field that wasn't guarded. So he says to me "ok...what's next?" like I had planned on absolutely no opposition. DOH!! I immediately started rewriting the mission on the fly (literally), something I eventually learned to do with ease. In short order we took two more of the enemy fields. Now they were catching on and attacked one of the fields we had left behind. So again he says to me "what are YOU going to do now?" like I had planned on this too. I told him I didn't have a plan for this and he yells back "You're the OPS BOSS, come up with something QUICK!" To make a long story a little shorter, not only did we keep the fields, we captured their last one and won the war on our first mission night ever! When we got back home and the three of us debriefed you could feel the elation in the air, it was electric. I had spent the entire two hours flying around at 20k feet giving orders and doing recon, never shooting at a single plane. I never fired a shot, but I had won the war! I knew this is what I wanted to do, this I was good at. Even though I wanted to participate more later on, I never got over the feeling I got from being in control of the Squad, giving the orders and having these great pilots make them work out."

-Iceman