Aviation Regalia

The Mighty T-2 Buckeye

As you might imagine, over the years I have picked up the odd patch here and there from my Air Force service. My first seven years as an aircraft maintenance fellow left me with a few patches, none of which I can find. Though I know they are (as so many of my possessions are) "somewhere in the basement."

While it's not like the following picture, exactly, in terms of organization, it's somewhat worse. There are boxes down there which were loaded back in 1982 and have remained boxed ever since. They have simply changed storage locations over the years.

However, there are a number of patches (not to mention hats) I have acquired since 2001 which are (with exceptions) related in some way, shape or form to Naval Aviation.

Now The WSO won her spurs in the mighty T-2 Buckeye and in the Sabreliner.

T-39 Sabreliner

She has also kept me well-supplied with patches and the occasional hat (i.e. "cover"), t-shirt and polo shirt. (The Naviguesser supplied me both with ball caps and cigarette lighters from his various ships. The Nuke ditto with hats (i.e. "covers") and a number of fine polo shirts from her at-sea tours.)

I've been meaning to share these patches for quite some time, I just kept forgetting to take pictures of them. Until today, for now that situation has been rectified, photos have been taken and this post is the result.

A special shout out to blog buddy and erstwhile shipmate ORPO1 is in order as well. He provided me with my latest patches (shown below, patience!) Oddly enough, ORPO1 is retired Navy, I am retired Air Force, through The WSO I hooked him up with a carrier ride. Through his job as an F-16 crew chief, I got some awesome Air Force patches from the 416th Flight Test Squadron out at Edwards AFB. How cool is that?

F-16 of the 416th FLTS at Red Flag

So without further ado, patches!

Patches from The WSO's two squadrons at NAS Pensacola
(TRARON = TRAining SquadRON)

Patches from The WSO's two squadrons at NAS Oceana

VFA-106 is the East Coast Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS) for the F/A-18. This is more commonly known in the fleet as the RAG (RAG = Replacement Aircraft Group, an old term but much beloved of Naval Aviators and Naval Flight Officers.

VFA-32, the Fighting Swordsmen (callsign Gypsy) was The WSO's first operation squadron. This is the squadron with which my eldest granddaughter (Little Bit) had the traps and cat shots which would, theoretically, make her eligible to join the Tailhook Association. I say theoretically because she was still in the womb st the time. (Big Time has vowed to get her recognized!)

Combat Cruise patches from USS Enterprise (far left) and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (far right)
JOPA patch at top (JOPA = Junior Officers Protection Association)
USS Ronald Reagan patch at bottom (from the cruise)

Cool US Navy patch and another USS Ronald Reagan patch

And of course...

Thanks ORPO1!

There will be more. Just have to go through some boxes and perhaps gather all my covers (i.e. "hats") in one place to get some good photos. We shall see.

I'm sure one or two of my patches are in there. Somewhere.