Earlier this month in the February MilCom Recap, I mentioned the new callsigns that VMFAT-501 has been using: MOJO, NITRO, and PHILLY. After Friday’s monitoring, I’ve heard two more to add to the list: FURY and HELLCAT. Just as PHILLY has a connection to the squadron’s heritage, FURY and HELLCAT do as well. As VMF-451, from 1946 to 1951, the squadron flew the F6F-5 Hellcat. Also as VMF-451, the squadron flew the FJ-2 and FJ-4 Fury from 1954 through the early 1960s. With these additions to the VMFAT-501 callsign list, they’re using:
- SWEDE
- WARLORD
- FURY
- HELLCAT
- MOJO
- NITRO
- PHILLY
Today’s monitoring also revealed that an ATAC detachment is at MCAS Beaufort working with VMFAT-501 on F-35B pilot training. ATAC ## flights worked with MOJO and HELLCAT flights this morning in the SUAs off of the Georgia coast on 349.800 and 376.900. Mode-S/ADS-B intercepts indicated that the detachment is a mix of ATAC’s Hawker Hunter F.58s and IAI Kfir C-2s. I didn’t hear any activity on ATAC’s usual air-to-air frequencies 136.775 and 136.875 and a search didn’t yield anything either.
