Most of the United States Navy aircraft squadrons established since the Navy designated its first aircraft squadrons in 1919 no longer exist, having been "disestablished". Another 40 or so have been "deactivated", currently existing only "on paper" in an inactive status. These disestablished and/or deactivated squadrons are sometimes incorrectly referred to as decommissioned squadrons, but the U.S. Navy does not "commission" or "decommission" aircraft squadrons. Until 1998, squadrons were "established", "disestablished", and sometimes "re-designated"; since 1998, squadrons are "established", "deactivated", and sometimes "reactivated" and/or "redesignated". It has never been correct to refer to U.S. Navy aircraft squadrons as being commissioned and decommissioned, ships are commissioned and decommissioned, U.S. Navy aircraft squadrons are not.

Under the system in use until 1998, a squadron's history and lineage began when it was established and ended when it was disestablished. During the course of its existence (between establishment and disestablishment) a squadron could be redesignated multiple times. The Navy's oldest currently active aircraft squadron is VFA-14 "Tophatters". It was established in September 1919 and has carried sixteen different designations (VT-5, VP-1-4, VF-4, VB-3, VS-41, VA-14, VF-14, VFA-14 to name just a few) having been redesignated fifteen times. Re-designation might assign a squadron a new number while leaving the basic designation untouched (e.g., VF-151 to VF-192), or it could change the entire designation (e.g., HS-3 to HSC-9). A Squadron retains its lineage regardless of its redesignation(s). When a squadron was disestablished or redesignated its former designation became available to be used for a new squadron or in the redesignation of an existing squadron. Squadrons which share a designation do not also share a lineage as a squadron's lineage follows that squadron regardless of the designation. A squadron which receives the designation of a former squadron might adopt the nickname and/or the insignia and carry on the traditions of the previous squadron, but it could not lay claim to the history or lineage of that previous squadron any more than a new ship commissioned with the name USS Enterprise could claim to be the actual WWII aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.

This system changed in March 1998 with Chief of Naval Operations Instruction (OPNAVINST) 5030.4E. U.S. Navy aircraft squadrons are now no longer disestablished, they are instead "deactivated." A deactivated squadron remains in existence, though only "on paper", awaiting possible future "reactivation". Neither its designation nor any previous designations are available for use by a new squadron. A reactivated squadron would trace its lineage back to the squadron's original establishment date, including its inactive period. Under this new system a squadron can still be redesignated if its function changes necessitating a different designation, for example Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron EIGHT (HS-8) was redesignated as a Sea Combat Squadron; Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron EIGHT (HSC-8)

The current update of OPNAVINST 3050.4 contains a list of all currently active and deactivated U.S. Navy aircraft squadrons.

The tables in this article list disestablished and deactivated squadrons but also listed will be the former no longer used designations of squadrons which are still active under their current designation.

Squadrons unique to WWII and prior The squadron types in this section existed only prior to or through WWII. Squadron types which existed prior to or during WWII and which continued to exist after the war are detailed in the sections which follow along with any squadron types which existed only after WWII.

WWII and pre-war Aircraft Carrier Squadrons Aircraft squadrons operating from the Navy's first Aircraft Carriers prior to WWII were assigned to that aircraft carrier and were organizationally grouped into that carrier's "air group". On the day that Pearl Harbor was attacked the Navy had seven aircraft carriers each with its own carrier air group. Each carrier air group was composed of four squadrons; one Fighting (VF), one Bombing (VB), one Scouting (VS) and one Torpedo (VT) squadron with the exception of the air group aboard USS Ranger. Because of its smaller size, USS Ranger unlike other the fleet carriers of the time had no room for torpedo storage and so she had no Torpedo Squadron. Instead of the standard air group she embarked one Fighting, one Bombing and two Scouting squadrons.

This four squadron air group aboard Fleet Carriers was the standard through the war, however by 1945 there had been a shift towards more fighters and fewer dive bombers per air group. The Scouting (VS) squadron of the air group was a second dive bombing squadron. The VB and the VS squadrons entered the war flying the Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber. The designation SBD designated "S-Scout" "B-Bomber" "D-Douglass" with the VS squadron focused on scouting with a secondary bombing role and the VB squadron as the primary bombing squadron. Beginning in 1943 VS squadrons began to disappear and by early 1945 VS squadrons had been replaced in carrier air groups by a "Bombing Fighting" (VBF) squadron flying either the Vought F4U Corsair or the Grumman F6F Hellcat as a second fighting squadron because by that time in the war the Japanese Navy had been virtually defeated at sea and the need for dive bombers for sinking Japanese warships was outstripped by the need for fighters capable of establishing air superiority and attacking ground targets as the Navy assaulted Japanese held islands in its advance across the Pacific. The F4Us and the F6Fs of the Fighting (VF) and Bombing Fighting (VBF) squadrons established air superiority and participated in amphibious assaults ashore with the air group's VB squadron flying a specialized dive bomber, the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver for both amphibious and counter warship actions when needed, and the VT squadron flying the Grumman TBF Avenger which could be used in the Torpedo bomber role against warships or glide bomber and horizontal bomber roles for amphibious operations.

In addition to the Carrier Air Groups (CVG) of four squadrons each aboard the large Fleet Carriers, there were smaller "Light Carrier Air Groups" (CVLG) aboard "light" Independence-class aircraft carriers made up of a single Fighting (VF) squadron and a single Torpedo (VT) squadron. Also it was initially planned that Escort carriers would embark small air groups made up of an "Escort Fighter" (VGF) squadron and an "Escort Scouting" (VGS) squadron but those designations were used only during 1942 and 1943 after which the VGF squadrons were redesignated to "Fighting" (VF) squadrons and the VGS squadrons were redesignated "Composite" (VC) squadrons. VC squadrons were single squadrons composed of both fighter and Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo/glide bomber/horizontal bombers which served as the air group aboard most of the war's escort carriers. The largest of the escort carriers were paired with "Escort Carrier Air Groups" (CVEG) which were structured the same as the CVLGs with a VF and a VT squadron each.

(VF) Fighting Squadrons Fighting Squadrons operated from Fleet Carriers during WWII initially as squadrons of the seven "Ship Named" Carrier Air Groups, then as squadrons of numbered Carrier Air Groups (CVG). They also operated from Light Carriers and Escort Carriers (larger escort carriers only)

(VB) Bombing Squadrons Bombing Squadrons operated from Fleet Carriers during WWII initially as squadrons of the seven "Ship Named" Carrier Air Groups, then as squadrons of numbered Carrier Air Groups (CVG).

(VS) Scouting Squadrons Scouting Squadrons operated from Fleet Carriers during WWII initially as squadrons of the seven "Ship Named" Carrier Air Groups, then as squadrons of numbered Carrier Air Groups (CVG).

VS was used to designate scouting squadrons from 1922 to 1946, although all 26 or so VS squadrons had by the end of 1943 been given other designations (VF, VT, VC or VCS cruiser scouting squadron). All except VS-41/VFA-14 were disestablished by the end of 1949. (From 1950 to 2009, VS was used for Antisubmarine or Sea Control squadrons.)