The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F/A-18 Hornet is a supersonic twin engine all-weather night fighter and attack aircraft. The F/A-18s first flew in November 1978 and the first production flight on April 12, 1980. The first 380 aircraft were F/A-18As and in September 1987 production switched to the F/A-18C. Variants A and C are single-seat aircraft while B and D are tandem-seats. The Hornet can operate from either aircraft carriers or land bases with the capability of in flight refueling. A total of 1,480 A-D variants were built.

 

In 1953 VMA-332 adopted the polka dots, top hat and cane when they replaced VMA-312 "Checkerboards". Mocking the black and white checkerboard painted on VMA-312 aircraft cowlings VMA-332 painted their cowlings with red polka dots on a white background. Their 2 letter identifier "MR" looked like the abbreviation for Mister and the pilots considered themselves gentlemen so the top hat and cane were adopted. In early 1960s the name "Moonlighters" was adopted and the tail letters changed to EA. In 1993 the unit became VMFA(AW)-332.