A great Patch donation of two F-111 pilots and one F-111 WSO with an impressive Air Force career in combat during the Vietnam War and later on in the cold War. They still get to together from time to time and via Roger Peterson found out about my hobby of collecting USAF patches and decided to donate a couple of their careers that they had extra, and I have to say these aren’t just a couple of unit patches these are quite special with a lot history behind them and most over 50 years old. I would like to thank Roger Peterson for making this all happen, Mr. Dan Polis and Mr. Chuck Triska.
Roger Peterson donated his personal F-111 North Vietnam Patch. This is a very hard to get patch and an original ( It is only worn by F-111A crews who flew combat in Route Packages 5, 6A, 6B in North Vietnam. Roger went into combat as a 24 year old LT and flew 62 combat missions in North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia and was awarded the USAF Distinguished Flying Cross twice.
The famous 474 TFW Roadrunners patch worn by the F-111 pioneers while stationed at Nellis AFB in the early days of the F-111
Dan Polis didn’t only fly on the F-111A but also on the F-104 with the 331 FIS at Webb AFB, TX and on the F-4 with the 27th TFS at MacDill AFB, FL.
Chuck Triska flew an equal impressive career in the USAF and in combat over Vietnam. He donated some fantastic patches from the time he flew the F-111F at RAF Lakenheath with the 492nd TFS, 494 TFS and early days of the 495th TFS 1977 up and till 1981.
It is very unusual to find and receive such detailed information and time lines of a patch
