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U.S. Army (Ft. Wolters) K-2B


viking73
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Hi,

 

Here's a few photos of another addition to my Ft. Wolters collection. It's a very salty K-2B dated 1965.

 

A friend of mine looked up the former owner's name with the help of the VHPA. I send him a letter but never heard back...

 

 

 

 

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Here it is hanging from my closet door with one of my Ft. Wolters solo caps. I've also stuck a Ft. Wolters map in the front pocket.

 

If anyone has for sale a well used set of gray leather B-3A gloves to go with this suit, I'd sure like to hear from you.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

-Derek

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You have any background on the flight suit? Could have been an instructors flight suit if it came from Wolters that it already had wings and rank on it? My father got his wings and WO1 bars pinned on at Hunter AAF when he finished his advanced flight training. Others usually went to Rucker for this after Wolters. I'm surprised to see pin on metal rank on the shoulders. Those 2d LT bars or the old WO1 bars? All of my fathers K-2Bs from the Army had the rank and the branch insignia (his being the Warrant Officer eagle) sewn on the collars of the flight suit. I like the solo hat. My father lost his at some point over time, his was a Tan hat. Thats one piece I would have loved to have still.

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Hi Tom,

 

No history on this flight suit other than it came out of an estate in Florida I'm sorry to say. I sent a letter to the former owner hoping to clarify a few things, including the metal 2nd LT bars on the shoulders. I was surprised to see them attached too. Maybe someone added them and they don't belong there? I think the owner may have been an instructor due to the "primary helicopter" patch over the normal Wolters patch. He was at least assigned to Wolters if not an instructor.

 

The last name - Rairigh - is pretty unique so I'm sure I had the correct address in Alabama. I hope he's still with us and just wasn't interested in replying to my letter...

 

-Derek

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I find a John F. Rairigh CW2 as of 1 January 1969 Commission or mre correctly Warranted, USAR. He was at that time then, an officer serving on active duty for a specific period of time. He entered Army in December 1965.

 

I think he's mentioned here, you look for his name in the articles :lol:

 

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth417123/m1/8/

 

So as far as we can tell, your right on the 2nd Lieutenant Bars, should be WO bars. Pretty sure this suit was worn by him, later as an instructor there, why? because of the insignia, subdued tapes with subdued cloth wings, with full color shoulder patch and tab says 1968-70.

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Also forgot to mention that the patch, maybe the tab too, is merrowed edge, another clue, as these start to be seen really from late 1968 on.

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mohawkALSE

My father is thinking he was probably an instructor of the Primary 2 phase being an Army pilots flight suit. The Primary 1 phase was done by civilian instructors of Southern Airways of Texas.

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Neat link patches, thanks. So he was a warrant officer, not a commissioned officer. At least not in 1966. Hmmmm. I do not see any evidence of removed rank patches on the shoulders. Nor do I see the ghost of a patch on the right shoulder sleeve. Would it even have been possible for him to have been promoted to 2nd LT in a span of 2 - 4 years? If he had served a tour in Vietnam and then came back to Wolters, wouldn't he had had a unit patch on the right shoulder sleeve? Man, I sure wish he would have answered my letter. That is the sort of thing I was hoping to clear up... :(

 

Nice, thanks for the info as well Tom. I didn't know that Phase 1 was done with the civilian instructors.

 

So, I'm not sure what to make of the 2nd LT bars. I sort of want to take them off, but then again...

 

-Derek

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Upon further review, you are 100% correct Tom. I closely examined the collars, both front and back, and you can clearly see where the collar patches were removed. There are even a few stray threads here and there.

 

Check it out:

 

 

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I've removed the bogus 2nd LT bars. Pity someone stuck them on the shoulders as I now have 4 holes where they were removed.

 

So now I guess I need to find a used, subdued set of CW2 and Eagle collar patches to restore this suit and make it complete and correct again.

 

One last shot, the bottoms of the arms showing the oil/grease stains. If only this suit could talk...

 

Thanks again gents!

 

-Derek

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That's right,insignia was worn on the collars of this, rank and BOS, how did I forget that detail :lol:

 

You'll need full color one's, when we see a full color shoulder patch, even if the tapes and qualifacation badge is subdued.

 

Not finding he was in Vietnam though, he may have been one of those who was sent else where after training.

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Back then some warrants would get a direct commission to 2lt. if they needed a commissioned officer . That might explain the old sewn on rank.We were still wearing the cotton K2-B when I graduated Rucker in March of 70.A WO1 made CW2 at the end of his year in Viet Nam.

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Longbranch

Neat flight suit and display. I found some Kodachrome slides a few years back from Ft. Wolters. If I can ever find them again, I'll post them up!

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Back then some warrants would get a direct commission to 2lt. if they needed a commissioned officer . That might explain the old sewn on rank.We were still wearing the cotton K2-B when I graduated Rucker in March of 70.A WO1 made CW2 at the end of his year in Viet Nam.

That's very true, but in this case he's listed in the 1968 and 1969 Officer Registry Vols 2 as a Warrant, Reserve Warranted.

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Neat flight suit and display. I found some Kodachrome slides a few years back from Ft. Wolters. If I can ever find them again, I'll post them up!

 

Please do if you can find them!

 

-Derek

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That's very true, but in this case he's listed in the 1968 and 1969 Officer Registry Vols 2 as a Warrant, Reserve Warranted.

 

I agree - I think in this case, the best thing to do would be to add the CW2/WO Eagle patches back onto the flight suit collar where someone removed them at some point. Regardless of the reason they were removed in the past, I think it's a safe bet adding them back is correct.

Over the weekend I found a nice full color, used (removed for a uniform it appears - just what I was looking for), set of CW2 and WO Eagle patches on eBay. I had to buy an entire lot of patches to get them and while I paid more than I wanted to I think it will be worth it in this case. When I get them, I'm going to have them sewn back on the flight suit.

 

Once they are restored to the flight suit, I'll be sure to post some photos here.

 

-Derek

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The patches arrived today. I have two different WO Eagles to choose from. I really think they will look the part once sewn in place. Hopefully I can get that done sometime next week.

 

 

-Derek

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The patches arrived today. I have two different WO Eagles to choose from. I really think they will look the part once sewn in place. Hopefully I can get that done sometime next week.

 

 

-Derek

Yes, good job there.

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Yes, good job there.

 

Thanks patches.

 

I dropped off the flight suit today with a local seamstress. I pointed out the faint stitch marks on the backside of the collar and asked her to try and follow that as close as possible for the replacement patches. Fingers crossed that she does a good job on it. I'm supposed to pick it up on Friday so I'll post some photos here so you can see how it turned out.

 

-Derek

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Just got this back from the local shop. I am very pleased with the way this came out!

 

Here's a "quick and dirty" photo.

 

-Derek

 

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