Attack Squadron 95, better known as VA-95, was a U.S. Navy attack squadron with a proud history of carrier-based combat operations. Known as the “Green Lizards,” VA-95 flew some of the Navy’s most recognizable attack aircraft such as the AD Skyraider, A-4 Skyhawk, and A-6 Intruder and all aircraft types served during an era when naval aviation played a critical role in projecting American air power around the world.
The VA-95 designation was used by more than one Navy squadron over the years. The most recent-known VA-95 was established on 1 April 1972 and became closely associated with the Grumman A-6 Intruder, the Navy’s rugged, all-weather, carrier-based attack aircraft.
The History of VA-95: From Torpedo Twenty To The Green Lizards
About VA-95: Flying the A-6 Intruder
The A-6 Intruder was built for a demanding job: carrying a heavy weapons load to targets in weather and darkness that could keep other aircraft on the deck.
Rather than relying on speed or flashy air-to-air performance, the Intruder used sophisticated navigation and attack systems that allowed its two-man crew—a pilot and bombardier/navigator—to locate and strike targets day or night.
For VA-95 crews and maintainers, that capability came with a price. Keeping an A-6 squadron combat-ready required long hours from maintenance personnel, ordnance crews, avionics technicians, plane captains, support personnel, and aircrew.
Anyone who served around carrier aviation knows the aircraft may get the photographs, but it takes an entire squadron to put that aircraft over the target and bring it home again.
About VA-95: VA-95 and the Cold War Era
During the 1970s and 1980s, VA-95 operated during some of the most tense years of the Cold War. The squadron deployed aboard U.S. Navy aircraft carriers as part of carrier air wings capable of responding rapidly to trouble anywhere American interests were threatened.
One of VA-95’s most notable chapters came aboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65).
In 1988, VA-95 participated in Operation Praying Mantis, the major U.S. naval action against Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf. A-6 Intruders played an important role in the fighting, demonstrating exactly why the Intruder had earned its reputation as a formidable Navy attack aircraft.
VA-95 aircraft participated in attacks against Iranian naval forces, including actions involving the Iranian frigates Sahand and Sabalan.
For the Green Lizards, this wasn’t a training exercise. It was the real thing.
About VA-95: More Than Just Pilots and Airplanes
Like every Navy squadron, VA-95 was much more than the men sitting in the cockpit. Aircraft such as the A-6 often receive most of the attention in books and photographs, but VA-95 history belongs just as much to the enlisted sailors and support personnel who kept those aircraft flying.
Every successful mission began long before the aircraft reached the catapult.
- Maintainers worked on engines, hydraulic systems, electrical equipment, avionics, radar, flight controls, landing gear, ejection seats, and countless other components.
- Ordnancemen prepared and loaded weapons.
- Plane captains inspected and cared for their aircraft.
- Supply personnel located parts.
- Administrative personnel kept the squadron functioning.
- Flight-deck crews helped move, launch, and recover aircraft in one of the most dangerous working environments in the world.
And much of that work happened at night, in bad weather, and thousands of miles from home. Carrier aviation has always been a team effort.
The pilot and B/N might take the aircraft into combat, but an entire squadron helped put them there and bring them home.
Behind every launch stood sailors working on engines, hydraulics, electronics, radar, ejection seats, weapons, fuel systems and dozens of other components. There were also the administrative, supply and support personnel necessary to keep a deployed squadron operating thousands of miles from home.
On a carrier flight deck, everybody had a job—and somebody’s life could depend upon that job being done correctly.
That is part of the VA-95 story that shouldn’t be forgotten.
About VA-95: The Legacy of VA-95
VA-95 was eventually disestablished in 1995, bringing the Green Lizards’ active service to an end.
The A-6 Intruder itself followed shortly afterward, retiring from U.S. Navy service in 1997. Modern aircraft and precision weapons took over its mission, but the Intruder and the squadrons that flew it earned a permanent place in naval aviation history.
VA-95 has garnered multiple awards and commendations throughout its history, including the Meritorious Unit Commendation and the Navy Unit Commendation. The squadron’s dedication to mission success and operational excellence has solidified its reputation within the Navy.
Today, the legacy of Attack Squadron 95 lives on through the veterans who served with the squadron, the aircraft and memorabilia preserved by collectors and museums, and the stories passed down by the sailors who were there. For former Green Lizards, an old VA-95 patch, cruise book photograph, squadron ball cap, or picture of an A-6 sitting on the flight deck can bring back memories that happened decades ago but somehow don’t seem all that far away.
VA-95 wasn’t simply a squadron designation. It was the sailors, aircrew, maintainers and support personnel who made the Green Lizards what they were.
To everyone who wore the VA-95 patch:
Thank you for your service—and long live the Green Lizards.
Once a Lizard, always a Lizard.
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