In 1969, the 22TASS didn’t have any Night Operations in South Vietnam, so a squadron was created near Benturi, MeKong River (hope I spelled it correctly) to conduct night FAC Operations. I picked these up from the 13th pilot to arrive at this new squadron who had 3500+ hours in the BUFF, so I know they are authentic, and only a few dozen were made (I was able to get a few). They would conduct night bombing missions, SAR, etc etc….whatever mission was required. So one of the maintenance guys asked for a “squadron patch”, of which this was created and painted on the side of a tent. Well, the tent was blown up and that artwork now hangs in his “man-cave”. Was a fascinating story to hear. This patch does not have velcro on the back, and the design shows a “starlight” scope with Bat Wings and 2 Stars…..quite the collectible patch, as I’ve never seen this one before. Get them while they are here, as I said, I only have a few of them.
