NAS OCEANA — OK, let’s get it out of the way and talk about the name — The World Famous Pukin’ Dogs. Every time I visit the flight line at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, I see their sign and wonder how that came about. Turns out, the nickname for what’s officially known as Strike Fighter Squadron 143 came about by chance.
According to lore, during the Vietnam War, someone (accounts differ as to who) commented that the squadron’s logo, actually a mythological creature known as a Griffin, resembled a dog who was having a bit of intestinal distress, to put it politely. The name stuck.
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Blaine Stewart 6:30 AM, Jan 11, 2024
Whatever you call them, VFA-143 is an elite group of sailors. The squadron is part of Carrier Air Wing SEVEN and flies the single-seat variant of the Navy’s newest strike fighter aircraft: the F/A-18E Super Hornet. The Pukin’ Dogs trace their roots back many decades, but came to call NAS Oceana home in 1975.