Marine Attack Squadron 214 (VMA-214) is a United States Marine Corps fighter squadron consisting of AV-8B Harrier (V/STOL) jets. The squadron is based at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona and is under the command of Marine Aircraft Group 13 (MAG-13) and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (3rd MAW).
The squadron is best known as the Black Sheep of World War II fame and for one of its commanding officers, Colonel Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, whose memoirs also inspired the 1970s television show Baa Baa Black Sheep, later syndicated as Black Sheep Squadron, which dramatized the squadron's exploits during the war.
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When the Korean War broke out, VMF-214 was en route to Hawaii on board USS Badoeng Strait hosting midshipmen from the Naval Academy. The squadron's commanding officer, Major Robert P. Keller, was summoned to headquarters in Hawaii where he met with then Colonel Victor Krulak. Krulak bluntly asked, "Major, are you ready to go to war?"
VMF-214 F4U-4Bs on USS Sicily in late 1950 Flying eight F4U-4B Corsairs on August 3, 1950, VMF-214 became the first Marine squadron to see action in Korea, when they launched from USS Sicily and executed a raid against enemy installations near Inchon. After the F4Us delivered their incendiary bombs and rockets, they followed up with a series of strafing runs.[8][9] Flying from USS Badoeng Strait and USS Boxer, the Black Sheep completed two combat tours in Korea. They participated in key battles, including the Inchon landing and the United Nations's defeat and withdrawal from Chosin Reservoir. In these and other battles, they provided nearly continual air cover, interdicting supply and communication lines, and inflicting heavy damage on numerous ground emplacements, and enemy armor.
