USAF Patch Intel PACAF d 1045 OETG HQ Command Observation Evaluation Training Group CIA Vietnam

USAF 1045 Intel Squadron PACAF 1045 OETG Observation Evaluation Training Group Det 2 CIA Vietnam HQ Command Takhli Airfield 1962 Japanese made Fully embroidered cut edge 83mm by 80mm three and one quarter inches by three one eighth inches.

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Group History

1045 Observation Evaluation and Training Group Headquarters Command OE&TG was activated at Duke Field Eglin AFB in the early 1950s assigned to 1007 Air Intelligence Service Group to provide USAF resources for Central Intelligence Agency covert operations as its Air Branch with covertly marked aircraft with USAF and contract personnel transferred in for projects.

Detachment 2 1045 Observation Evaluation and Training Group Headquarters Command OE&TG was activated at Kadena AB Okinawa on the redesignation of Det 2 313 Air Division in 1957 reporting direct to the CIA. Equipped with a C 118A Liftmaster transport aircraft marked as Civil Air Transport CAT Det 2 took over the clandestine logistics air support requirements of the CIA Tibet operation conducting flights to Tibet to support Tibetan rebels against the Chinese communist occupation forces. The Detachment shipped Tibetan guerrillas trained in the US and Philippines and supplies from Kadena to Saigon South Vietnam then onto a top secret base in East Pakistan from where the high altitude high risk insertion missions over the Himalayas and Tibets rugged mountains were carried out. Over 200 missions were completed by 1959 and including the extraction of the Dalia Lama to India in 1959.

To reduce risk and increase cargo capacity it was decided that the new USAF C 130A transport aircraft would be used for the CIA missions and with 21 Troop Carrier Squadron being the only C 130A operator in the Pacific Air Force E Flight 21 TCS was activated at Naha AB Okinawa in July 1959 to carry out the mission under Det 2 1045 OE&TG. E Flight 21 TCS would take up to three CAT marked C 130A from Naha AB to Kadena AB to load clandestine cargo and CIA and Tibetan personnel cargo flying to Takhli Airfield Thailand where they were sanitized and crewed with quarantined Air America pilots and personnel before being flown across Burma to air drop over Tibet as Able or Baker Flight returning to Takhli to be handed back to the USAF. Tibetan missions were suspended in May 1960 when Gary Powers U2 was shot down over the Soviet Union.

Det 2 began clandestine operations to support US special forces training Hmong tribesmen fighting the communist Pathet Lao insurgency and against the North Vietnamese Ho Chi Min Trail in Laos in December 1960 including the provision of STOL Helio Courier aicraft. Missions to Tibet resumed in March 1961 until mid 1962 when India began taking over the missions. The Detachments involvement in Southeast Asia operations continued to grow with the establishment of Lima sites forward operating staging bases for special warfare operations and under Project Millpond in March 1961 the provision of sanitized B 26 and RB 26 to operate over Laos.

Det 2 1045 OE&TG deployed additional assets to Takhli Airfield to provide the CIA with military support to the Vietnamese Air Transport VIAT used by the CIA and the South Vietnamese Government for commando raids into North Vietnam with Det 2 1045 Operational Evaluation And Training Group providing VIAT with their first C 54 Skymaster in August 1961 with Det 2 personnel assisting and supporting Vietnamese pilots and crew from Saigon. Det 2 undertook The Detachment provided another C 54 in March 1962. VIAT undertook clandestine missions over North Vietnam including drops of team Tourbillon and Eros May 1962 Tarzan 6 January 1963 Pegasus 12 April 1963 and other teams in May 1963 and on 8 June 1963. Additional support in South East Asia was provided by Detachment 1 1045 OE&TG.

Lima sites provided Forward bases for CH 3 Jolly Green helicopters for rescue and recovery operations in Laos and North Vietnam.

While the USAF established its Air Commando Wings and Squadrons to undertake special operations CIA support continued to be provided by 1045 OE&TG with Det 2 operating in South East Asia until 1045 Observation Evaluation and Training Group was inactivated on 30 June 1975.

This patch dates from the 1980s.