Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 224 is a United States Marine Corps (USMC) 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 (MAG-31) and the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. The Bengals are the only Marine F/A-18D Hornet Squadron currently operating out of MCAS Beaufort.
Squadron Patch from WWII
A newly delivered Vought F4U-5 Corsair at MCAS Cherry Point in 1948
A VMA-224 A-4E takes off from Chu Lai, Vietnam, 24 September 1966.
Grumman A-6 Intruder from VMA(AW)-224 on the flightline at MCAS Cherry Point in 1984.
Brigadier General Robert Edward Galer was a naval aviator in the United States Marine Corps who received the Medal of Honor for heroism in aerial combat during the Battle of Guadalcanal in World War II. He went on to command Marine Aircraft Group 12 during the Korean War and retired a few years after in 1957.
Grumman F3F-2, BuNo 0976, restored and displayed at the National Museum of Naval Aviation, NAS Pensacola, Florida, after 50 years in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast. It is marked as it was when ditched by 1st Lt. Galer.