Belgium Air Force Patch BAF Sqn c 349 Squadron Crest F 104

Belgium Air Force BAF Patch 349 Squadron 1 Wing Crest Patch F 104 Starfighter Cold War 1970s Embroidered on felt cut edge 118mm by 90mm four and seven sixteenth inches by three and one half inches.

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Squadron History

Originally formed in England in 1942 as 349 Belgian Squadron Royal Air Force the Squadron was transferred to the Belgian Air Force along with 350 Belgium Squadron RAF in October 1946 forming A Wing at Beauvechain AB with its Spitfire LF XVIe fighter aircraft. The Squadron retained its RAF name and numbering to honour its origins.

349 Squadron along with 350 Squadron were reassigned from A Wing to 160 Wing on 14 April 1947 and then to 1 Fighter Wing on 1 February 1948. The Squadron reequipped with Meteor F 4 Fighters in May 1949 and upgraded to Meteor F 8 fighters in February 1953. 349 Squadron requipped with Hunter fighters in April 1957 but following a number of accidents replaced them with CF 100 Canuck fighters in March 1958.

The Squadron reequipped with F 104G Starfighter aircraft becoming operational on 1 August 1964 providing NATO Quick Reaction Alert QRA cover with 350 Squadron and their Starfighters.

349 Squadron received F 16 Fighting Falcons and became operational on 7 January 1981 the first NATO Squadron to do so and continued its QRA tasking. Following the restructuring of the Belgium Armed Forces at the end of the Cold War 1 Fighter Wing All Weather was disbanded on 4 March 1996 with 349 Squadron and the F 16 Operational Conversion Unit relocating to Kleine Brogel Air Base and reassigned to 10 Tactical Wing while 350 Squadron moved to Florennes Air Base reassigned to 2 Tactical Wing ending the Squadrons post war partnership.

In 1999 the Squadron participated in the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and in 2004 began providing rotational deployments for NATO Baltic Air Policing missions. 349 Squadron deployed to Kabul in 2005 as part of the ISAF mission in Afghanistan and ended its Baltic Air Policing deployments in 2007. The Squadron deployed to Kandahar Afghanistan for combat air support missions in 2008 and in 2011 undertook combat missions when deployed for Operation Unified Protector during the Libyan civil war.



This patch dates from the 1970s