It was established on 4 June 1956, and disestablished thirty years later, on 31 August 1986.

[1] The squadron was assigned to these home ports, effective on the dates shown:[1] * Under the Overseas Home Port Program, VA-56 and CVW-5 were permanently based aboard Midway and home ported with her at Naval Station Yokosuka, Japan.

The home port was officially changed on 30 June 1973.

Elements of VA-56, when not operating from Midway, were based ashore at NAF Atsugi or Misawa, Japan.

The squadron first received the following aircraft on the dates shown:[1] This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons.