page_title: VMFA(AW)-224
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: VMFA(AW)-224 / History / World War II
context_page_description: Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 224 is a United States Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet squadron. Also known as the "Fighting Bengals", the squadron is based at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina and falls under the command of Marine Aircraft Group 31 and the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. The Bengals are one of only two Marine F/A-18D Hornet Squadrons currently operating out of MCAS Beaufort, S.C. The other is the Hawks.
  VMFA(AW)-224
  Support the Marine Air Ground Task Force commander by providing supporting arms coordination, conducting multi-sensor imagery, and destroying surface targets and enemy aircraft day or night; under all weather conditions during expeditionary, joint, or combined operations.
context_section_description: Marine Fighter Squadron 224  (VMF-224) was commissioned on May 1, 1942 at Naval Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii. Flying Grumman F4F Wildcats, the Bengals entered World War II as part of the Cactus Air Force stationed on Henderson Field, Guadalcanal. Led by Medal of Honor recipient Maj Robert Galer, the squadron accounted for over sixty Japanese aircraft being destroyed in less than two months. The squadron also conducted close air support (CAS) missions while under constant attack from Japanese naval, air, and ground forces. VMF-224’s contributed significantly to the American victory during the Guadalcanal Campaign, which in turn, helped stem the tide of the Japanese advance across the Southern Pacific and secured a crucial foothold in the long island-hopping campaign against Japan.
  After Guadalcanal, the squadron was refitted with the Vought F4U Corsair and participated in the Marshall Islands Campaign. The spring of 1945 found VMF-224 participating in the last great battle of the Pacific Campaign. During the Battle of Okinawa the squadron operated initially from Yomitan and then from 1 July from Chimu Airfield. Throughout the struggle for Okinawa, the Bengals flew infantry support and counter air missions accounting for an additional fifty-five enemy aircraft being destroyed.
caption: Squadron Patch when they were VMF-224
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "75", "Image YResolution": "75", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2007:01:03 18:22:55", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8628", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "343", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "341"}