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Col. Thomas Coady Vietnam F-105 Pilot


flakbait
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A few years back, several flightsuits and two HGU-2A/P flight helmets, with ox masks belonging to F-105 Pilot Col. Tom Coady were auctioned on ebay. One suit in particular was a local made tiger stripe flight suit and the others were period nomex flight suits. All had in-country made patches - squadron 100 Missions, 200 missions N. Vietnam etc.

 

After the ebay auctions I was able to purchase from the dealer what he had left from Col Coady's estate, more patches, his badged orange K-2B flight suit, and some flight gear. I am not looking to sell what I have but would like to locate the owners of the other items to ask if they could provide a few pics to add to my file on Col Coady's gear.

 

Thanks for looking.

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BlueBookGuy

Great for you to have even only a part of that identified flight items from a F-105 Vietnam vet.

 

What a find would it be for me, one of those in-country patched suits!! When making my full-size USAF fighter pilot in SEA environment I assembled it as a RF-101C driver because of the 1968-dated K-2B grey suit having the large RF-101 "100 Missions North Vietnam" patch sewn on the left shoulder, but the basic flight gear (from G-pants to SRU-21/P, to BA-18 parachute etc.) would have been 100% exactly the same for a F-100D, F-102, F-104C, and of course for a F-105 pilot.

If thinking about a tiger-striped flight suit for a mannequinn... brrr!! The ultimate in a striking display!

 

Franco.

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Hi FLAKBAIT,

this is DAGOFLYBOY,

I've in my collection an HGU-2P flt. helmet with a red visor housing, if I remember well,there was a Nam Thud Unit that used this color scheme for its flt. helmets.

Tks a lot for the extra "T" bayo.

 

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Dagoflyboy - can you post a photo of your HGU-2P? I know the 421st TFS flying the F-105 had red visors at one point.

 

Dale

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Flakbait - how about posting a couple of the patches from Col. Coady's estate. Every once in-awhile I see one or two of his items floating around.

 

Dale

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Here are some pics of Col Coady's patches that I was able to purchase from the dealer after he sold off the helemts and flight suits.

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Tried to post some pics but files are too large. Will see if I can shrink the size and try again.

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I'll keep my eyes open for Coady's other items. Since I was an egress mechanic on F-105s, I consider it my duty to help. <S>

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I have posted photos of the various F-105 and career patches I acquired from the Col. Coady estate several years ago. The first group has his name/wings block for his flight suit and is done in the colors of the 357th TFS, the F-105 squadron he flew with from 1969 to 1970. The blue THud arrowhead was among his patches though I am not sure this was worn when he flew on his seconf tour as A F-105 Wild Weasel pilot with the 17th Wild Weasel Squadron, 1972-73. The estate had several of the over size 100 Mission patches and a few of his 200 Mission patches. Hunter Killer team, YGBSM, Sam Slayer and Wild Weasel are from his second tour.

 

post-18277-0-19618100-1398379969.jpg

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The other frame holds patches from his pilot career - the top left corner is 3501st Pilot Trainning Sq where he took pilot basic. Col Coady was assigned to the Wild Weasel 66th Fighter Weapons Squadron at Nellis aftr he came home from his first Nam tour. The patches at the top right was when he was an Air Defense pilot flying F-102s in the mid 1960s before he went to Nam and he was a member of the Society of Wild Weasels. I also got his flight bag from when he was with the 66th FWS.

 

 

post-18277-0-86805600-1398380154.jpg

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Flakbait - how about posting a couple of the patches from Col. Coady's estate. Every once in-awhile I see one or two of his items floating around.

 

Dale

Hi Dale - I sucessfully posted some pics of Col Coady's patches. take a look.

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Great for you to have even only a part of that identified flight items from a F-105 Vietnam vet.

 

What a find would it be for me, one of those in-country patched suits!! When making my full-size USAF fighter pilot in SEA environment I assembled it as a RF-101C driver because of the 1968-dated K-2B grey suit having the large RF-101 "100 Missions North Vietnam" patch sewn on the left shoulder, but the basic flight gear (from G-pants to SRU-21/P, to BA-18 parachute etc.) would have been 100% exactly the same for a F-100D, F-102, F-104C, and of course for a F-105 pilot.

If thinking about a tiger-striped flight suit for a mannequinn... brrr!! The ultimate in a striking display!

 

Franco.

Hi Franco - thanks much for your coments and I checked out your excellent USAF, Italian, USN/USMC flightgear displays on the site. Painstaking detail thats the best part. Will talk more later.

 

Will

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Will,

 

Really great looking display you have there. Nice to see such a large grouping of Col. Coady's patches all in one place and well preserved.

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

Dale

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  • 2 months later...

Hello, this is my first post. On Wednesday I attended the funeral at Arlington Cemetery for my late Uncle Tom Coady. After the funeral I was presented with his flight jacket. I seen that Flakbait posted some pictures of some of his patches. I would like to add patches to this jacket and wanted to know if anyone knew where I could get some replicas.

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Hello, this is my first post. On Wednesday I attended the funeral at Arlington Cemetery for my late Uncle Tom Coady. After the funeral I was presented with his flight jacket. I seen that Flakbait posted some pictures of some of his patches. I would like to add patches to this jacket and wanted to know if anyone knew where I could get some replicas.

Hi gpd129 - I had heard that your Uncle, Col. Coady, had passed away in February of this year. A great combat piilot . May he rest in peace. As far as I know, back in 2008, your uncle's personal belongs to include his military flight gear, patches, models, plaques, etc were put out as part of an estate sale. One dealer acquired most of the flight gear and patches and placed the items for sale on ebay. In 2009 I contacted the dealer to ask what he had left as I missed the sales and I bought all the patches he had left, which I have posted pics of here on the US Militaria Forum. I also got some flight gear, a g-suit, gloves and parachute bag marked with his name and unit. I didn't get every thing - such as his 357th TFS F-105 patch and the 17th Wild Weasel Sq patches.

 

Before you start hunting for patches, e-mail me if you can and I will send a copy of Col Coady's military biography which would list all the units he was assigned, the dates etc. This will help you in ID patches you may want. The other patches are the Vietnam Era mission patches - the 100, 200 and 250 Mission patches -there was two 250 Mission F-105 patches that the dealer acquired but I was too late in bidding.

 

Repros would be cheaper but you will need to look them over carefully to see that they look right, not some poor knockoff. Original patches are available and very, very expensive. Also the better repros can be passed off as originals by shady dealers.

 

Flakbait.

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Hi gpd129 - send me a private message from the Forum.

 

Flakbait

Hi gpd129 - I had heard that your Uncle, Col. Coady, had passed away in February of this year. A great combat piilot . May he rest in peace. As far as I know, back in 2008, your uncle's personal belongs to include his military flight gear, patches, models, plaques, etc were put out as part of an estate sale. One dealer acquired most of the flight gear and patches and placed the items for sale on ebay. In 2009 I contacted the dealer to ask what he had left as I missed the sales and I bought all the patches he had left, which I have posted pics of here on the US Militaria Forum. I also got some flight gear, a g-suit, gloves and parachute bag marked with his name and unit. I didn't get every thing - such as his 357th TFS F-105 patch and the 17th Wild Weasel Sq patches.

 

Before you start hunting for patches, e-mail me if you can and I will send a copy of Col Coady's military biography which would list all the units he was assigned, the dates etc. This will help you in ID patches you may want. The other patches are the Vietnam Era mission patches - the 100, 200 and 250 Mission patches -there was two 250 Mission F-105 patches that the dealer acquired but I was too late in bidding.

 

Repros would be cheaper but you will need to look them over carefully to see that they look right, not some poor knockoff. Original patches are available and very, very expensive. Also the better repros can be passed off as originals by shady dealers.

 

Flakbait.

 

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Thanks so much. I would love to communicate in regards to your offer to help. Can not seem to get your email address off this site.

Here is mine. Kevinmiller at goshencity dot com.

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nguoi tien su

Hello there,

 

I saved some photos of the auctions in my computer, back in november/december 2008. The patches made good prices at the time.

 

08_dec10.jpg08_dec11.jpg

 

08_dec12.jpg08_nov10.jpg

 

08_nov11.jpg08_nov12.jpg

 

08_nov13.jpg

 

Last photo was for a grouping with great patches. The price was outrageous! The helmet and the suit were unlikely worn while in SEA, probably worn CONUS.

 

08_nov14.jpg

 

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Thank you very much for sharing those are really cool. I would love to even get my hands on some replicas to add to his jacket. I will post a pic of his jacket that I received. I remember watching the flight suit and helmet on eBay thinking how cool it would be to have those. But watching the price quickly climb I knew it was out of my pay grade.

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nguoi tien su

You are welcome!

 

Could you post a photo of the jacket you have?

 

I wish I had been more wealthy at the time to get some of those patches myself...

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I will post a pic later this evening. I am trying to figure out what exactly to do with the jacket. Thinking of a couple of different things.

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Thanks Nguoi Tien Su - I went back to my files and founs some others that I am posting to include Col Coady's Tigerstripe flight suit. The pic you posted with flight helment, I believe that helmet was his when he flew his first tour as the visor is painted in the squadron's colors.

 

Take care,

 

Flakbait.

Hello there,

 

I saved some photos of the auctions in my computer, back in november/december 2008. The patches made good prices at the time.

 

08_dec10.jpg08_dec11.jpg

 

08_dec12.jpg08_nov10.jpg

 

08_nov11.jpg08_nov12.jpg

 

08_nov13.jpg

 

Last photo was for a grouping with great patches. The price was outrageous! The helmet and the suit were unlikely worn while in SEA, probably worn CONUS.

 

08_nov14.jpg

 

 

post-18277-0-98977900-1406580774.jpg

post-18277-0-54671900-1406580780.jpg

post-18277-0-37425300-1406580786.jpg

post-18277-0-79767600-1406580843.jpg

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