USAF Patch Airlift Vietnam 8 APS Aerial Port Squadron MOB Delta OLs

USAF Patch 8 APS Aerial Port Squadron Mobility Operations Branch MOB Teams at OLs Delta Playboys Deployed from Tan Son Nhut Vietnam 1968 Vietnam Local Made embroidered on twill cut edge 71mm by 60mm two and three quarter inches by two and three eighth inches.

Free Shipping

History

8 Aerial Port Squadron APS was activated on 8 December 1962 under 315th Tactical Cargo Group Assault later 315 Air Commando Group and started with 7 terminals in South Vietnam and 1 in Thailand and had its Headquarters at 377 Combat Support Groups Tan Son Nhut Airbase
Siagon. 8th Aerial Port Squadron handled all cargo and passenger traffic at Tan Son Nhut Airbase South Vietnams busiest airport and was also tasked with providing MOB personnel and equipment to load and unload aircraft of personnel and cargo into out of smaller and remote airfields in the southern areas of South Vietnam.  

The Squadron included a special organization known as Dets & OL’s Detachments and Operating Locations which included Mobility Operations Branch known as The MOB Teams to provide the remote tactical airlift aerial port support.

Detachments Dets were typically of 6 to 10 men stationed at larger more permanent US Army base camps with runways running water cooked food communications and Army defences and sufficient need to justify a full-time USAF presence to handle passenger and cargo traffic. The first detachments were Det 1 at Bangkok Thialand Det 2 Da Nang Det 3 Pleiku Det 4 Nha Trang Det 5 Bien Hao Det 6 Qui Nhon and Det 7 Can Tho and grew to 16 to included Cu Chi, Tay Ninh, Song Be, Quan Loi, Phuc Vinh and other bases to the north of Saigon and Binh Thuy and other bases deeper in the delta. 

Operating Locations OLs were spread all over the countryside and included The Special Forces camps at Bu Dop, Tonle Cham, Katum, Rang Rang and others along the Cambodian border and Vietnamese USMC and US Army Fire Support Bases such as Bu Gia FSB Snuffy and were manned as
needed by 7 man MOB Teams from the Mobility Operations Branch of Dets & OLs. On these missions the mixed teams of Loadmasters and Air Freight specialists lived as their hosts for their 1 to 3 day stays subsisting on C-rations and slept in bunkers fox holes sometimes outside of the defensive perimeter and with communication provided by 2 man USAF Combat Control Teams CCTs.

The Teams took all equipment required to create an instant cargo centre in the jungle mainly transported by helicopter with 10 thousand pound capacity Adverse Terrain Forklift trucks 10k AT and the smaller 6k RT Rough Terrain forklift personal gear and weapons and military clip boards for paper records! 

The Squadron was reassigned to 834 Air Division when it activated under 7 Air Force in August 1966. The Squadron was involved in many combat operations and came under fire on numerous occasions During the siege of Khe Sanh in 1968 volunteers from the 8 APS were sent TDY to the Base to augment 15 APS. The Squadron had 5 WIA and KIA at Bu Dop SF base in December 1969 and MOB Team and CCT assisted defender at SF camp at Kham Duc in June 1970. In 1972 a large 8 APS MOB team supported Lam Son 719 from Khe Sanh during the last major offensive of the war.

8 SPS was inactivated with 834 AD on 1 December 1971 as part of the USAF withdrawal of forces from Vietnam.

This patch dates from 1968.