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VMF-214


walika
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VMF-214

 

Type 1 - "Swashbucklers". Australian embroidered on wool. About 6" high. Made mid-1943. Solomons Campaign.

 

VMF-214-Type-1-600.jpg

 

 

 

Type 2 (1st Blacksheep tour) - Australian embroidered on wool. Sep 1943-January 1944. Patch from the Lorsch jacket. (I have seen subsequent reproductions/copies of this patch.)

 

Fred_Losch-2d_Tour_Solomons-Sep-Dec_1943

 

 

Type 3 - (2nd Blacksheep tour) - American embroidered on wool. 5 3/4 x 4 3/4". 12 stars, no "214". [Millstein refers to this as "Second Issue" Blacksheep.]

 

Type 4 - (3rd Blacksheep) Carrier-based unit on board USS Franklin. This patch is pictured in Millstein. Note that it is smaller than other issues, only 4 3/4" tall x 3 3/4" wide at top. 12 stars. Made late, 1944.

 

Type 5 - American embroidered on wool. 6 1/4" x 5". Note slight variation in design. 11 stars, with "214". The star below sheep's head is not present. Likely post-war.

 

 

vmf-214-7-460e.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

VMF-214 operated during WWII in three incarnations: the Swashbucklers in early 1943, Boyington's "Black Sheep" (Sep-January, 1944), and the carrier-based (USS Franklin) unit in 1944-45. The squadron was aboard on March 19, 1945, when a Japanese dive bomber hit the USS Franklin. 724 crewmen lost their lives on that day, one of the worst ship's losses of the war; some VMF-214 enlisted men were among them (but no pilots). [see: Bruce Gamble's The Black Sheep: The Definitive Account of VMF-214 in World War II.]

 

Fortunately, we have the flight jacket of Frederick "Fred" Samuel Lorsch, who flew with the unit under Pappy Boyington, Sep-Dec, 1943, while based in the Solomons. The Museum of Flying has his original flight jacket which shows the 1st generation of the patch, which Millstein refers to as the "First issue Blacksheep", Australian wool. Below are images from the Internet of Lorsch's patch and jacket.

 

Fred_Losch-2d_Tour_Solomons-Sep-Dec_1943

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Am I mistaken? Or was there only 1 week R&R in Australia between Boyington's pilots 1st and 2nd tours...

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