VFA-34
United States Navy aviation squadron based at NAS Oceana, Virginia, USA
Strike Fighter Squadron 34 (VFA-34), also known as the "Blue Blasters", is a United States Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet strike fighter squadron stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana. They are a part of Carrier Air Wing 3 and are attached to the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. Their tail code is AC and their radio call sign is "Joker".
Squadron insignia and nickname
The squadron's first insignia was approved for use by VF-20 during World War II, and was a "Joker" breaking out of a deck of cards carrying a machine gun. This insignia was selected by the squadron because the young and inexperienced pilots in the squadron were referred to as the "Jokers". It was approved by Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) on 15 March 1944. The next insignia adopted by the squadron was the outline of a human skull, approved by CNO on 1 February 1946. Superimposed on the nose of a skull was a human skeleton with the arms holding paddles that became the eyes of the skull, while the teeth were represented by the word "Fighting 20." On 10 June 1949, CNO approved another modification to the squadron insignia which embellished the skull design. This insignia was in use from 1949 until the squadron's disestablishment in 1969. In 1957 the squadron adopted their present nickname, taking inspiration from their blue tail colors and their nuclear weapon delivery capability; hence the name "Blue Blasters." When the third VA-34 was established in 1970, it adopted the insignia and Blue Blasters nickname used by the previous VA-34 squadron (the second VA-34).
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7906854. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1944, 1946, 1949 and 1969.
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This entry incorporates text from “VFA-34” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.