Belize Patch BDFAW Belize Defence Force Air Wing Crest Defender

BDFAW Patch Air Wing Belize Defence Force Crest Defender Patch Badge 1990s UK Made Embroidered on twill cut edge 113mm by 89mm four and seven sixteenth inches by three and one half inches.

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The military of Belize dates back to 1817 when the Prince Regent Royal Honduras Militia was founded as a volunteer militia that became the Belize
Volunteer Guard of the British Territorial Army when it was known as British Honduras. The Belize Defence Force BDF was founded in 1978 following the disbanding of the Belize Volunteer Guard and the Police Special Force in 1977.

After Belize achieved independence in 1981 the United Kingdom maintained a deterrent force British Forces Belize in Belize to protect it from
invasion by Guatemala which made claim to Belizean territory. During the 1980s this included an infantry battalion and 1417 Flight RAF with Harriers and 1563 Flight with Puma HC1 helicopters and the main British force left in 1994 three years after Guatemala recognized Belizean independence. The United Kingdom maintained a training presence via the British Army Training and Support Unit Belize BATSUB and 25 Flight Army Air Corps until 2011 when the last British Forces left Ladyville Barracks with the exception of seconded advisers.

In 1983 the Belize Defence Force Air Wing was formed and based at Belize City at Philip SW Goldson International Airport with its main tasks being reconnaissance SAR casevac aerial resupply and troop lift. In the mid1990s the Air Wing was expanded with a Cessna 182 for transport and a
Slingsby T67M 260 for basic flying training for the Air Wings own pilots. In October 1998 one of the Defenders crashed and although recovered it could not be brought back to flying status and a replacement Defender aircraft was obtained in 2003. BDF Air Wing HQ relocated to Price Barracks Ladyville the former British helicopter base.    

This patch dates from 1990s