Daily Archives: August 21, 2016

F-4 Phantom II era. The USAF Air Demonstration Squadron (“Thunderbirds”) is the air demonstration squadron of the United States Air Force (USAF). By 1967, the Thunderbirds had flown 1,000 shows. In 1969, the squadron re-equipped with the front-line F-4E Phantom which it flew until 1973, the only time the Thunderbirds would fly jets similar to those of the Blue Angels as it was the standard fighter for both services in the 1960’s and 1970’s. A special white paint had to be developed to cover high-temperature metals, replacing the bare metal paint scheme of past planes. The white paint scheme has been continued to the present. I obtained these patches through an individual in Oregon that had obtained them through an estate sale. The rest of the items were Thunderbird F-4 Phantom related items. These patches were typically worn with the Air Force civilian blazer. The patches are pin back so they were easy to remove from the jacket for dry cleaning purposes. These are only Thunderbird pin back patches I have seen. I have one (1) of the plastic Vanguard cases that originally came with the patches and that (1) case is included (see pictures above). That case opens and closes, but has a missing piece of clear plastic from the lower left corner. It also shows the tell tale marks of time such as scratches etc. The item “Authentic Air Force USAF Thunderbird Civilian Blazer Patches F-4 Phantom II” is in sale since Tuesday, January 27, 2015. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Militaria\Vietnam (1961-75)\Original Period Items\Patches”. The seller is “htrab2010″ and is located in Marietta, Georgia. This item can be shipped to United States.

• Country/Region of Manufacture: United States