Unknown AAF Bomb Squadron/Wing/Group Patch

[vzemke]

Anyone recognize this one?

 

Thanks

Vance

[ocsfollowme]

Vance, page 96 of COMBAT SQUADRONS OF THE AIR FORCE-WORLD WAR II. 17th RECONNAISSANCE

[vzemke]

Thanks! The bomb threw me off, and I was only looking at bomb units.

[ocsfollowme]

You would have to ask experts like R. Watkins. I'm no expert on lineages but page 96 talks about them doing a bombardment role for a little bit. Maybe they kept the bomb as an ode to it.

[R. Watkins]

This one has always been something of a mystery.

After two previous designations the 17th was designated a third time as the 17thRcnSqdn(Bomb) on 2 Apr 1943.

The mystery is how this squadron received official approval on their emblem in just over one month; 4 May 1943,

and they kept this design until the squadron was inactivated following the war.

The approval came at a time when most units waited anywhere from four to nine months to hear from the Heraldic

Section for a decision on a proposed insignia.

Go figure!

[Johnny Signor]

I have seen an image of a WW2 era B-25 with this same emblem on the tail, although the colors were onlt two tone it was the same emblem ........

[Johnny Signor]

Here's a variation of the same emblem as well, note the motto …….

[ocsfollowme]

Found this searching for that motto

 

On January 28, 1944, the 17th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron flew its first combat mission. From Dobodura, its planes went out on a sweep over the Bismarck Sea and Solomon Sea – the first of what would be daily reconnaissance missions.

At month-end, its squadron historian resolutely summed up: “All missions have been successfully accomplished, but to date no exceptionally important sightings have been made.” He continued: “Particularly since we have commenced active operations the morale of the Squadron personnel has been exceptionally high. Within the Squadron there have been formed six (6) baseball teams. These teams play scheduled games among themselves and challenging teams from other units in the Dobodura area.”

The “Fighting Seventeenth,” as the unit preferred to call itself – the name sounded better than the official sobriquet of “The Wreckoneers” – had finished training at Laurel Army Air Base in Mississippi in October. Picking up their B-25D’s in Savannah, they had flown to the West Coast, to Sacramento on San Francisco Bay. Major William G. Tennille, their commander, argued with authority until his men were granted passes to visit San Francisco, even to see their families. From California they flew to Hawaii, where they sojourned for a month; and then they began their flight to the South Pacific, the first B-25 group to fly out. They flew south to Christmas Atoll, on to Canton Island, then to Samoa and Fiji, finally to Australia. Lieutenant Wolfram’s plane was the first bomber to arrive.