page_title: VFA-146
section_title: 1970s
hierarchical_section_title: VFA-146 / History / 1970s
caption_attribution_description: A U.S. Navy Ling-Temco-Vought A-7E-5-CV Corsair II (BuNo 156863) of Attack Squadron 146 (VA-146) "Blue Diamonds" in flight on 16 November 1974. VA-146 assigned to Attack Carrier Air Wing 9 (CVW-9) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Constellation (CVA-64) for a deployment to the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean from 21 June to 23 December 1974.
context_page_description: Strike Fighter Squadron 146 also known as the "Blue Diamonds" is a United States Navy operational fleet strike fighter squadron based at Naval Air Station Lemoore California. They fly the F/A-18E Super Hornet and are attached to Carrier Air Wing 11, deployed aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt. Their tailcode is NH and their radio callsign is Diamond.
context_section_description: In April 1970, the squadron embarked aboard USS America at NS Norfolk for her extended combat deployment to Vietnam, returning in December 1970. In December 1971, VA-146 became the first Navy squadron to use a laser-guided bomb (LGB) in combat. In May 1972 the squadron's A-7Es conducted night mining missions to North Vietnamese rivers. On January 5, 1973, VA-146 headed west with Carrier Air Wing Nine (CVW-9) embarked again on USS Constellation. This cruise would bring to an end Navy's participation in the Vietnam War. For the deployment, USS Constellation and CVW 9 were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.
  In November 1974, while aboard USS Constellation, VA-146 operated in the Persian Gulf, the first time in 26 years that an American carrier had entered and operated there.
caption: VA-146 A-7E Corsair II, in 1974.
exif: {"Image Make": "HP", "Image Model": "HP ScanJet 8200", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "200", "Image YResolution": "200", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2017:08:22 15:23:06", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ReferenceBlackWhite": "[0, 255, 128, 255, 128, 255]", "Image ExifOffset": "2356", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4602", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7507", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1754", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1216", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "EDA37B7E2A0D499F87FF3A972DF19C34", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}