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ORIGINS of PATCHES

Au contraire, mon (junior service) amie. And I'm an old guy.

Behold my original and still nearly pristine leather flight jacket, devoid of any patches, much less hefty ones. It was issued to me as an Ensign nearly a half-century ago, and worn often for many years.......... for warmth rather than fanfare.

Then behold my working nylon, 'poopie-suit' liner jacket, replete with only a very few patches. No needed weight & balance there either. In this case, I think the individual patch quality (and the meaning behind them) by far trumps the need for any greater patch quantity.

And anyone who ever wears any kind of a patch signifying traps aboard an aircraft carrier – even if it is their one and only patch - is one of far greater achievement and on a much higher plane than the vast lower caste of mere mortals, and most especially - those white wine drinking ascot wearers. ;)
Touche, monsieur! That's a well preserved relic you've got there. I raise my glass to you! :icon_zbee

BTW, "amie" should be spelled "ami": just because I like my ascot does not make me a chick/girl/lady. :icon_mi_4
Standing by for the incoming rounds....
 
jacket2ug3.jpg

Hey Cat, what are those two patches on the bottom pockets? The white one on the left looks like a Phantom patch (VF-41??) and the blue one looks like a Centurion. Kinda hard to tell in the pix....
 
Touche, monsieur! That's a well preserved relic you've got there. I raise my glass to you! :icon_zbee

BTW, "amie" should be spelled "ami": just because I like my ascot does not make me a chick/girl/lady. :icon_mi_4
Standing by for the incoming rounds....

No incoming, and it was just a typo.....
I just wish I could be as well preserved as my "relics".

Anyway, I raise one to you as well, mi amigo. (If you remain ascot-less, that is :D )
 
Probably an easy question but why isn't there a VT8?(If there is one now, disregard the question.)
 
Couldn't read the 2 - I am a double anchor guy you know

..
Must be a Marine thing, but most of the aviators with more than 200 would wear 2 of the 100 mission patchs i.e. a pair of aces or trip aces
 
How long does it generally take to get 100 traps? One cruise? One sea tour?

Used to expect to get at least 100 on cruise but don't know what it is any more. From 90 to 93 and one cruise I got 230 on TR alone plus a smattering on other boats.
 
How long does it generally take to get 100 traps? One cruise? One sea tour?

Interesting question. It really varies, depending upon the circumstances of the cruise, the 'op-tempo' and of course the Defense Budget. I have no idea how long it takes today, but a quick check of my logbook will give you some idea of how long it took, back in the day.

(These are only cruise traps. They do not include workup and CQ traps, but do include long transpacs and port-calls without flying. The 1st two are wartime, 2nd two are peacetime cruises.)

100 F-4 traps 1st cruise (in 6 months of a 7-month cruise… left a month early due to injury)
150 F-4 traps 2nd cruise (11-month cruise, less a month while on leave)

65 F-14 traps 1st cruise (in 6 months of a 7-month cruise…joined squadron in PI.)
75 F-14 traps 2nd cruise (7-month cruise)
 
.....
Must be a Marine thing, but most of the aviators with more than 200 would wear 2 of the 100 mission patchs i.e. a pair of aces or trip aces
Probably was a Marine thing, although I think I saw some Navy attack drivers with a hand of 3 (or 4?) aces sewn on their flight jacket.

I didn't need to carry the extra weight, so the 100-mission patch just sits in an I-love-me drawer in my desk. :o


100missionlg6.jpg
 
As does mine:)

Actually I only have the one. In country 180 days, 171 missions - I must be a slacker
 
As does mine:)

Actually I only have the one. In country 180 days, 171 missions - I must be a slacker
Wow! In country helo drivers did that much work but I never knew Marine F-4's did. Nice. Did you ever sleep?
 
Wow! In country helo drivers did that much work but I never knew Marine F-4's did. Nice. Did you ever sleep?

........
Some one once said, Naval aviation is fly, drink, sleep repeat as necessary. Don't know how it went aboard ship but we flew a lot of doubles to account for days when you couldn't fly because of wx, etc. There was also an occasional triple in 24 hours. Those days it was fly, sleep to tired to drink - I hated those days. Average mission was only about 1.2-1.5 so you could fit a few in a 24 hour period.

Also, the last 4 months or so of my tour our squadron (115) was the only Marine F-4 left, guess they wanted to keep us from getting bored.
 
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