Randy

Leisure flight clothing... gotta love the 70s! Almost looks like the AF was influenced by the party suit craze and tried to make something more official. Thankfully these never caught on. Randy

That looks great Manny. Awesome job on a legendary aircraft. Randy

It does look German made. I'll look around some more, but no luck so far. Randy

Never saw it before, looks like a C-47. It also looks German made maybe? I agree it looks like a support type unit, which could be tough to ID. The only support unit with that number in Europe I know of was the 4th Aviation Depot Squadron in the UK, and it had a different badge, but who knows with these sometimes. I don't think they had any aircraft assigned but again nothing from the 50s surprises me. LMK if it is German made and I'll see what I can dig up there. Randy

They were activated as part of the Korean War. They were home based at Newark, NJ. Their active duty federal time was in NH and possibly other places until 1953 when they returned to state control.

As Bearmon said, 105th AC&WS. NJ ANG, 1950s era piece and 100% good. Randy

Hi Morty, we were talking about the 5th patch, which I said earlier was most likely from Taiwan. Look around the outside edges on the back. The corresponding light blue twill base on the opposite side is also a bit coarse, another hint to a Taiwan made patch. As far as that whole black light thing, its a gray area to me. There are exceptions to most everything in this hobby, and it is almost never black and white. It can be helpful, but not the end-all. Material washed in phosphates can alter the properties of the cloth to glow as well. I'm sure that has been discussed a lot already. As I said

Yes, that tight cheesecloth backing is a hallmark from there. But with that close up, I would say 1980s era. I've have some from the Philippines that have some of these same trade marks as well as far as the loose stitching to make it look fully embroidered. No way that's a 50s piece. Randy

You can also see the arming wire on a couple of pics running from the nose fuse to the tail fuse. This would be pulled when the bomb dropped and the fuses would spin to arm the bomb on the way down. Very nicely detailed. Randy

Can't speak to the unit as I don't know army, but as far as manufacture the first 4 are Japan made, the fifth looks Taiwan. The second and third are on pre-stitched material, which really didn't show up until the later mid 50s, and more prevalent from the late 50s on. Only #4 looks like it could be a KW era one, but it could also be later. The Taiwan one would be late 60s on. Hopefully this helps date these. As far as glow, that's another battle. I have many vet worn patches I was given the do glow due to being washed. Lots of late 40s/early 50s Japan made patches on the USAF side have some s

OK, a little more info than "Google it". Used by the 80th Flying Training Wing at Sheppard AFB, TX. Would have been used probably late 60s through the 70s until the introduction of ENJJPT, which trained a majority of the NATO allied pilots. Prior to ENJJPT it was mostly German pilots. Flight Instructors were mostly, if not all, USAF. Flew T-37s and T-38s. This patch looks Japan made to me. Hope this helps. Randy

368th Bombardment Squadron. But I can't say if it's good or not. Randy

99.9% of anything from that seller should be considered bogus. She also goes by abqmetal on eBay as well. One of the worst repro artists out there. She lives in the Philippines, so you can tell she has easy access to getting patches made. I could go on for hours about my distaste for this person and her practices, but you get the idea...AVOID! Randy

No problem Manny. Dave Waldrop was only credited with one MIG kill, though two were claimed and all his flight members are convinced two were in fact downed. Thus the two kill markings. I ran into him a few times in the 90s when he was flying civilian F-104s for Starfighters. Real down to earth guy. Randy

Awesome work! Makes me believe this actually happened! Randy