Fighter Squadron SEVEN SEVEN SEVEN (777)
Insignia of the Lucky Eleventh.
As with many of the fledgling squadrons that came to be the Lucky Strikes were brought out of the need for getting asses in the air during the First Cylon War. The Squadron originated on Gemenon and was considered at first to be called the Crusaders or some such religious icona, but the name would not stick. In it's first engagement over scorpia the Seven earned the nickname the "Lucky Strikes" due to the fact that these early pilots were rather bad shots and managed to take out a basestar on relative luck alone. Somehow their losses were not great, and their reckless leader at the time, then hurried to connect back with the fleet heading over to engage in the Resistance of Libran which was to be the stupidest move made. The squadron was nearly decimated and folded into other squadrons there.
However, the protest of one Major Cleet "Us" Van Tair, kept the squadron alive and saw it pieced together with another squadron of raw recruits. The Major whipped his squadron into fine fighting shape, and by the time the liberation of Picon was underway, the Strikes returned to the field, bringing devastating results. By the end of the war, the Lucky Strikes had proven they weren't just lucky in hitting the targets on paper, but in their skill of flying and coming out ahead of the risks put before them.
Major Van Tair would die in action during the First War, and the Strikes would see a succession of Captains during the peacetime and the hard times the colonies faced in the following years, before finally being enfolded in the Lucky 11th's wing and assigned to patrolling the Helios Delta airspace, and mainly trying to keep tensions from Aerilon from spilling into Hestia or Canceron.
When the 11th was assigned to the Orion, the Strikes were kept on as it's secondary squadron, the original squadron of the Avengers taking the prime spot as the lead Viper Squadron.
The Strikes hold onto their old motto from Gemenon which reads: Fortis atque Fidelis This means Strong and Faithful