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Vietnam USAF direct embroiderd flight suit w/ mystery shadow


Siamundo
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I picked this US Air Force K2B flight suit up earlier this year from a little old time army surplus store. I thought it was pretty neat with the direct hand embroidered navigator wings and Major ranks on the shoulders. It wasn't until later that evening in much better light did I discover something had also been embroidered on the right chest at some point. A fairly legible shadow remains when held just right showing the numbers 122 with what appears to be a nail diagonally piercing the middle number 2. Any idea what this might have been or maybe a guess as to why it might have been removed? I was thinking it might have been a call sign, maybe Nail 122? I tried to find information about the original owner on-line but all I could find was his on-line obituary from a couple of years ago and it only stated that he was a retired USAF Major and served in Vietnam.

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Patchcollector

I'm wondering if it was ever embroidered on the suit in the first place.Perhaps it is an outline for a design that was never applied.Are there any holes where the stitching was?

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That's a keen observation patchcollector. I too have wondered that. Looking at the inside there are traces of thread on the backside of what would be the second '2'. On the '1' and first, or middle '2', it is kind of hard to tell but faint traces of the numbers are visible from the backside. If it was a pattern to be embroidered it must have been something used to press into the material to leave an indentation that would show through to the back as I do not think a printed or traced pattern on the front would be visible on the backside.

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Patchcollector

Viewing these new photos you took it is evident that something was sewn on at one time.Like you stated,it is most likely Nail 122,which I believe would indicate a FAC pilot.

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Interesting suit. He wasn't a pilot beccause those are Nav Wings. He may have been a member of the 23rd TASS whose call sign were Nail and possibly was the back seater in a OV-10 or a staff officer in one of the shops.

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