100 Missions Up North

DAYTON, Ohio - On display: Many B-52 crewman tracked Arc Light ground attack strikes by wearing F-105 style patches with “South Vietnam” at the top instead of “North Vietnam.” This one was worn by Capt. Michael McGuinness, a bomb-navigator on B-52s. This flight jacket with was worn by Maj. Derek Detjen, the electronic warfare officer (EWO) on the first B-52 crew to reach 100 missions in Southeast Asia. His 100 missions included 24 over North Vietnam.This patch for the electronic warfare EC-47 was donated by Capt. John Franklin, III. This variation of the F-105 patch came from two AC-119K flight engineers. The 100 mission patch was worn by Master Sgt. Art Perry and the 120-mission patch by Airman 1st Class John Wolff. This patch was donated by Steven Fritts, who was assigned to the 43rd Security Police Squadron, Eighth Air Force Headquarters, at Andersen Air Base, Guam, during Linebacker operations. The CBF is for Central Base Funds, and it appears that Fritts probably drove many high level officers around on the base.This humorous patch came from Korat RTAFB. The bus to town cost two baht (or about 10 cents U.S.) and drove on a road at the end of the runway. So, 100 take-offs would equal 100 missions over the two baht bus. Ground personnel wore this whimsical patch representing 100 trips on the local bus. This patch made fun of boring but necessary administrative duties assigned to some aircrew. The “duty pig” worked a shift at the squadron operations desk answering the phone, posting the flight schedule, and checking aircraft available. “Mobile” was sitting in the mobile control tower taking note of flights coming in and going out. This patch was made for missions flown during OPERATION DESERT STORM in 1991. Although the colors are different, the overall shape is clearly from the original F-105 patch. The 100 mission patch tradition reaches to OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF) and OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF). In 2005, the donor, Lt. Col. Tim Sipes, then-commander