VT-4 Mighty War Bucks

195?: Basic Training Group NINE (BTG-9) established at Naval Air Station Memphis, Tennessee.
01 May 1960: Basic Training Group NINE (BTG-9) was redesignated as Training Squadron FOUR VT-4 at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.
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195?:
Basic Training Group NINE (BTG-9) established at Naval Air Station Memphis, Tennessee, flying the Lockheed T2V-1 Sea Star.

May 1, 1960:
Basic Training Group NINE was redesignated as Training Squadron FOUR (VT-4) at Forest Sherman Field, Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, flying the Lockheed T2V-1 Sea Star and North American T2J-1 Buckeye. The mission was to provide basic jet flight instruction consisting of basic and radio instrument procedures, formation, night flying, air to air gunnery and carrier qualifications.

Fall 1963:
The Training Squadron FOUR flight instruction sylabus was changed to air to air gunnery and carrier qualification training.

1961:
- Training Squadron Four is tasked with all phases of basic jet training in the North American T-2J-1 Buckeye. VT-4 receives the top Training Squadron ONE graduates, students. VT-4 provides each student pilot about 200 hours of academic instruction and about 50 hours of flight support lectures.
- VT-4 student Naval Aviators fly over 100 hours in the Navy's latest and only basic jet training plane the T-2J "Buckeye." The VT-4 training syllabus includes: transition, precision flying, acrobatics, basic instruments, radio instruments, navigation, night flying, formation flying, air-to-air gunnery and carrier qualification.
- Students climax their flight instruction by jet carrier qualifying aboard the United States Ship Antietam CVS-36, operating in the Gulf of Mexico. The Antietam was for VT-4 student and instructor carrier qualifications intil 1963.
- VT-4 at Forest Sherman Field provided students air-to-air gunnery training from 1960 to 1971.

1962 to 198?:
Student and instructor carrier qualifications on United States Ship Lexington CVS-16.

December 1965:
Training Squadron FOUR transitioned to the North American T-2B Buckeye aircraft. VT-4's mission was to be the Naval Air Training Command sole site for providing basic jet flight instruction in aerial gunnery and carrier qualification.

January 1970:
Student and instructor carrier qualifications carried out on United States Ship Intrepid CVS 11 while Lexington in overhaul.

March 1971:
The Navy switched training concept to parallel flow. VT-4 provided basic flight training in Transition, Precision Acrobatics, Basic Instruments, Radio Instruments, Night Flying, Formation Flying, Air-to-air Gunnery and Carrier Qualification

September 1972:
Training Squadron FOUR was assigned the training concept of Basic and Advanced flight training. Training Squadron FOUR was assigned the Grumman TF-9J Cougar for advanced training.

November 1973:
Training Squadron FOUR assigned the Douglas TA-4J Skyhawk to replace the Cougar. From 1973 to 1978, VT-4 provided summer jet orientation flights for midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy and the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps.

1975:
Training Squadron FOUR tasked with Flight Surgeon flight training in the Douglas TA-4J Skyhawk. VT-4 was given the added mission of providing flight instruction for allied foreign military pilots. Flight training was given to student pilots from Kuwait, Spain, Singapore and Indonesia.

December 1985:
Training Squadron FOUR mission was changed from strike training to being the sole site of E-2/C-2 intermediate training in CNATRA. The squadron was tasked with Grumman E-2 pilot training comprised of 68 training flights in the T-2C Buckeye.

April 16, 1986:
VT-4's last TA-4J Skyhawk was transfered to Training Squadron SEVEN at Naval Air Station Meridian, Mississippi.

January 1992:
VT-4's mission changed to being the E-2/C-2 advanced training site using the T-2C.

1996:
VT-4 grew from a small all Navy Advanced E-2/C-2 pilot training squadron with a student throughput of 36 per year it became a joint Primary and Intermediate Naval Flight Officer/Navigator training squadron with an annual student throughput of 450. Instructor ranks grew from fourteen Navy pilots to 71 Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force pilots and NFO/Navigators. The squadron transitioned from flying the T-2C to flying the T-34C Turbo Mentor and T-1A Jayhawk. VT-4 also instructs student navigators from Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Norway and Denmark.

April to September 1996:
VT-4 conducted simultaneously primary NFO/NAV and advanced pilot training. Following the final CQ detachment in September, the mission converted entirely to NFO/NAV training. On 30 September 1996, the last VT-4 Naval Aviators earned their wings. Since its commissioning, VT-4 amassed over 600,000 flight hours and logged 42,000 carrier landings.
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