A History Of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 531 Getting Started In 1942 Covering Cherry Point Tigercats Skynight Skyrays Westpac Phantoms Migs Vietnam And El Toro Rebirth

This unique book traces a half century of active service by Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 531. It was a unique squadron because its history demonstrates the complete evolution from night fighter to all-weather fighter to fighter-attack. Its earliest days placed the Marine Corps as the pioneer of all the military Services in night fighting. From the primitive converted civilian airliner, the PV-1, to the most modern Marine Corps fighter, the F/A-18, the "Grey Ghosts" evolved as their tactics changed. Their service covered the globe: Cherry Point on the East Coast, Texas, El Toro on the West Coast, the Southwest Pacific, Iwakuni in Japan, Cubi Point in the Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, the Indian Ocean, and the Caribbean. Colonel Charles J. Quilter II provided a large majority of the text. He retired from the Marine Corps Reserve in 1994 after 34 years of service. He studied in Japan and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in East Asian History. Commissioned in June 1964, he gained his aviator wings in November 1965. This is an operational narrative of one of the Marine Corps' most unusual aviation squadrons moving, as noted in the Foreword, through three successive and different fighter roles during 50 years of continuous service. It was a pioneer in several ways, and the superior quality of its performance was marked by numerous awards. Information for this history was drawn from primary sources in command diaries and chronologies and from interviews, base newspapers, published historical works, and valuable information from the files and helpful personnel of the Reference Section at the Marine Corps Historical Center.