page_title: VAW-125
section_title: 1970s
hierarchical_section_title: VAW-125 / Squadron History / 1970s
caption_attribution_description: Two U.S. Navy Grumman F-14A-75-GR Tomcat (BuNo 159013, 159016) from Fighter Squadron 32 (VF-32) "Swordsmen" fly in formation with a Grumman E-2C Hawkeye (BuNo 159107) from Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 125 (VAW-125) "Torchbearers". Both squadrons were assigned to Carrier Air Wing 1 (CVW-1) aboard the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) for a deployment to the Mediterranean Sea from 28 June 1975 to 27 January 1976. The F-14A 159013 was still in service with VF-32 on 4 January 1989, when its crew (Cdr. Leo Enright and Lt. Hermon Cook) shot down a Libyan Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 over the Gulf of Sidra.
context_page_description: Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 125, known as the "Torch Bearers" or "Tigertails", was established on 1 October 1968, at Naval Air Station Norfolk. The squadron's initial supporting command was Carrier Air Wing Three deploying aboard USS Saratoga.
  The squadron is equipped with the E-2 Hawkeye. It was the first east coast squadron with E-2B's in 1968, among the first to operate the E-2C in 1975, receiving the E-2C 2000 in its first operational year in 2003, and the first unit to operate the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye in 2014.
context_section_description: In December 1976, Vice Admiral Howard E. Greer, COMNAVAIRLANT, presented VAW-125 with the COMNAVAIRLANT Battle "E" for readiness, the CINCLANTFLT "Golden Anchor" Award for career retention, and the CNO Safety "S" Award.  VAW-125 is believed to be the first Navy unit to win all three awards in the same year.
  On 14 January 1978, the squadron suffered the loss of an aircraft (BuNo 159107) and the deaths of three aviators.  In June, VAW-125 took the E-2C's newest weapons system upgrade, the Advanced Radar Processing System (ARPS), to sea for the first time.  The squadron then assigned to Carrier Air Wing Seventeen (CVW-17) in November 1979, with the squadron making their eighth Mediterranean Sea deployment, this time aboard USS Forrestal.
caption: Aircraft from CVW-1 in flight, including a VAW-125 E-2C Hawkeye
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