Upon landing, the airliner was quickly surrounded by American and Italian soldiers. After one thrilling hour in which Americans and Italians were facing each other, after a long call between the Italian First Minister Bettino Craxi and US President Ronald Reagan, the terrorists ultimately were taken into Italian custody. 1986 was another busy year for VF-74 as they took part in Operation Attain Document and Operation El Dorado Canyon. During the next few years, VF-74 would make regular deployments to the Mediterranean Sea as part of CVW-17. On 11 August 1988 VF-74 became the first squadron to receive the F-14A+ (now F-14B). By the end of the year they had finished the transition and VF-74 became the first squadron to launch an AIM-54 Phoenix from an F-14A+. In 1990, VF-74 took part in Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. VF-74 relieved , they took up station in the Red Sea and worked with Saratoga''''. After eight months they returned to NAS Oceana on 29 March 1991. Within a year, VF-74 was back on cruise with Saratoga on 6 May 1992. Operations included taking part in support of the United Nations aid to the former republics of Yugoslavia in July. On 14 September, VF-74 F-14s flew from Saratoga operating in the Adriatic Sea, dropping ordnance on the Wadi Natrun target range in Egypt. The squadron returned home on 6 November. As usual after returning from cruise, the squadron went straight to workups for the next deployment on board after the carrier had returned from Service Life Extension Program, they also conducted carrier qualifications on USS Saratoga. However, in August 1993 the Navy decided to deploy only one F-14 squadron on board Saratoga'', and as VF-74 was a non-TARPS squadron they were left back home and moved from CVW-17 to be under direct command of Fighter Wing Atlantic. Although they did not take part in any cruise VF-74 took up aggressor role with various Navy and Air Force squadrons. On 20 January 1994, VF-74 took part in the last deployment, this time to Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in February where VF-74 launched seven air-to-air missiles with 100% success rate. On 30 April 1994, VF-74 was disestablished after 50 years of service. See also History of the United States Navy List of inactive United States Navy aircraft squadrons List of United States Navy aircraft squadrons References External links The 1985 Achille Lauro