Sac patch air force

Generally they were the same design as that used in World War II. Wings were given a great deal of freedom in designing their patches. Some were round, some were rectangular and others were an early shield design, such as that for the 5th Bomb Wing shown below. On July 4, , SAC officially adopted it's new insignia - the armored first striking through the sky at lighting speed to preserve the laurels of peace.

The standard shape for a wing insignia became the shield, representing SAC's defensive role. The shield was also used for units higher in the echelon, the air division and the numbered air force. Squadron patches could be any shape. In the 's and for most of the 's, SAC bombers were shiny aluminum with the bottom painted white to reflect heat from a nuclear blast. The Vietnam war brought combat and camouflage paint schemes to help protect the planes from attack.

Patches soon became subdued. Freed of past restrictions and traditions, they developed more modern designs, such as that of the th Bomb Wing shown below. Wing Patches Below are some typical patches. The first is for the 5th Bomb Group. The th Bomb Wing was formed in and it's patch is a shield.

For the first few years, the motto scroll read, "th Bombardment Wing medium , but was later replaced with the wing motto "Strength and Confidence," which is shown below. Around , it began using the subdued patch. The new th patch shows the stealth bomber.

The shield has been abandoned. Compare the th patch below with the th group patch at top of this page. There were far fewer airmen assigned to the Squadrons, so there was much less demand for their patches. Often, they were not available. Many squadrons had them made. Custom patches were also acquired for specific missions and exercises. Air Divisions were first assigned to bases that had two or more groups or wings. Later the units were disbursed, but the air division remained.

These only had 18 people assigned to them. There were only a very few patches made and they are very rare. Patch Usage The army and marines maintain very rigid uniform standards, probably because it's men were often in formation and needed to look "uniform. It's men were highly skilled and SAC demanded a lot from them. Formations were rare. To somewhat offset the many demands SAC made on it's men, it did not burden them with traditional military dress standards.

The first consideration was availability. Many patches were difficult to obtain. Another was rank and the nature of the uniform. Air force stripes consist of wings that flare upward.

Those for high-ranking sergeants take up a lot of sleeve space, leaving virtually no room for a shoulder patch. It is interesting to know that the smaller ones were available in , but I would really like to find the dated regulation that ordered the change.

I have also wondered if SAC went to the smaller sized patch earlier than the rest of the Air Force, they are hard to find. I hunted for years for a large SAC patch and have found a couple probably locally procured ones. One on white twill with a white border nd the scroll outlined red and another on white twill with a black border and the sky a darker blue. I have even found one with a white border on the shield and a red bordered shield with Strategic Air Command above Drill Team all in red.

I have been looking for a large SAC patch that is made like the small one since the late 's. Growing up watching B's doing Alert take offs and seeing the flames, smoke and pieces on the ground I pick up SAC stuff when I see it. We were issued one large AFCS patch and told to put it on our field jacket, the small ones were for fatigues. I'm new to the group. I came across your forum when I was researching some Strategic Air Command information.

I am a former SAC missile launch officer and instructor and did Plans and Intel for awhile in the 80's. This sounds like a great group. I am an avid Strategic Air Command collector. Please let me know what you all think. I have added some information to some of the pictures on the site. I have also included pictures of our launch control facility and launch facility. You don't see many interior shots of BUFF's either.

I've been told that returning tankers to the states were non stop poker games and the transportation mode of a lot of electronic and motorcycles from Asia. It is a long tanker crew tradition to haul stuf home. This might be why we dont see pictures of a KC interior. OT I know, but a good story anyways. Anyways, they were going to divert for fuel to drop off the car when their group commander called them on the HF radio that he was had been notified about some sort of unauthorized cargo on board.

The crew denied the accusation, dropped down to 8, feet and rolled the car out the back over the Atlantic ocean. So much for the pilot's new car. Terry, I'm new to the group but your information about the SAC patch alone has made joining the group well worth it. I started a SAC collection display site for fun, keeps me calm and I enjoy it:. I've been told that returning tankers to the states were non stop poker gamespoker games we always had Pinochle games going and the transportation mode of a lot of electronic and motorcycles from Asia.

This might be why we dont see pictures of a KC interior". Most crews world fly a MAC style Fly and crew rest and the aircraft would pony express to Hawaii and meet it's home based crew at Hickam. We moved our own uninstalled engines, and equipment, with the Tankers. Passengers sat in sidewall red troop seats seats we did have several crew bunks assigned to the crew chiefs most had up to a 36 hour duty day and a few unhappy Senior Officers claiming RHIP, the mission orders were noted the crew chiefs had priority bunk assignments.

Interiors were mostly bagbins plywood and duffle and B4 bags, souvenirs a couple of Papa San chairs, small boxes of china, nothing real big , Several Passengers had to leave excess items because we carrying a couple of aircraft engines. After the home base aircrew picked up the aircrew picked up the aircraft we would be routed all over country delivering deadheading crews and passengers home.

I would rather be refueling and escorting fighter aircraft instead. Has anyone else heard of missilemen doing field art when they were in missiles? There were may be a couple of us at the st that did this to pass the time- it took sometimes over a month to complete one since you were either doing the job or studying for something.

It was later used by all of SAC wings. The blue sky represents the area of operations. Officially, the arm and armor are symbols of strength, power and loyalty, but many feel that it represents SAC's ability to deliver a really powerful blow. The olive branch is symbolic of protecting peace.

The design was the result of a SAC-wide contest. The winning submission was designed by Staff Sergeant Robert T. Barnes of the 92nd Bombardment Wing.

This patch came into use in Two years later, the "Strategic Air Command" motto scroll was added. John sells SAC patches. See "obtaining patches" for his site.