Vietnam era Rare Water Pump pilot / advisor / FAC MACTHAI patch grouping.

[Mitch]

Hi,

I had a chance to pick up this grouping to a Water Pump pilot / advisor / FAC, that was at last years SOS. Most of the patches are Thai made. 'T.L.D.' on the 2 MACTHAI tiger patches is Thailand Liaison Detachment, set up in 1973 and reporting direct to the Pentagon to coordinate activities in Cambodia, formed from personnel of Water Pump / 56th SOW. As seen on the lower middle patch , they trained Thai, Cambodian and Laotian FAC pilots . As seen by the top left and right Thai made patches , they used T28 Trojans for training. Of interest is the 2 different countries flags on these patches. Thanks to help from fellow members, the top middle patch is Armee Del'Air Khmer Chasse T-28 , 1st Squadron Fighter and appears Cambodian made. Middle right is also Khmer Fank , I believe and is Cambodian made. The 2 MACTHAI patches are Thai made . Lower left is a Laotian made Flight #5 or possibly Fighter Sq. 5, The lower right patch is a Cambodian made Khmer FAC SMABA. I may be a little off on desciption but if you want to find out more about this rare unit , then buy the Yankee Air Pirates Vol. 2 to see and find out more on Waterpump. Thanks for looking . Any questions or comments welcomed.

Regards, Mitch

[River Patrol]

Great set of patches!!

[Bearmon]

Glad to see your still at it Mitch, with something other than Brown Water.

[firefighter]

Those are some awesome patches. I agree, Yankee Air Pirates vol 1 & 2 are great books.

[Bob Baldwin]

Wow! Congrats on finding this amazing group!

[gwb123]

Very nice.

[immurement]

Gorgeous grouping! I should really pick up the Yankee Air Pirates series. 

[Russ Hall]

I am fairly new to this forum

Below is my "T28 Trojans for training", a third variant

What I find confusing the the Cambodian flag in the center of the USAF chevron, with a Loas emblem at the bottom