Hawkeye squadron disbanding

NEW ORLEANS -- Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 77, VAW-77, will be ceremonially disbanded next month, the Navy confirmed Wednesday. Its six E-2C Hawkeyes and many of its personnel already have been redistributed elsewhere in the fleet. Its aircrews made their last flights out of the Naval Air Station-Joint Reserve Base in Belle Chasse late last month. The Navy Reserve aviation squadron is credited with saving more than 1,840 New Orleans-area residents during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Hawkeyes follow the path of Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II and Navy P-2 Orion airplanes, all of which had been based in Belle Chasse until recent years. The squadron’s disestablishment ceremony is March 9 at the air station. (Source: New Orleans Times Picayune, 02/13/13)