USAF Patch Fighter USAFE b 91 TFS Tactical Fighter Squadron g A 10 CAS e3bu

USAF Patch USAFE 91 TFS Tactical Fighter Squadron Blue Streaks Close Air Support CAS A 10 Warthog 1987 RAF Bentwaters Fully embroidered cut edge 78mm by 75mm three and one sixteenth inches by two and fifteen sixteenth inches.

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Squadron History

91 Fighter Squadron was reactivated as part of 81 Fighter Group at RAF Bentwaters UK in 1951 to assist the RAF with UK Air Defense with F 86A Sabres and operated from RAF Bentwaters and its dispersed station RAF Shepherds Grove. The squadron came under the operational control of the RAF Fighter Command No. 11 Group during UK Air Defense missions and for combined operational training. The Squadrons activities were coordinated with the RAF by 3 Air Force USAFE. 91 Fighter Squadron was redesignated 91 Fighter Interceptor Squadron 20 January 1950.

In October 1954 the Squadrons mission changed from fighter interceptor to a fighter bomber role with both conventional and nuclear weapons for tactical operations in support of USAFE and NATO while air defense remained as a secondary mission and moved to RAF Manston. For the new role the Squadron was redesignated 91 Fighter Bomber Squadron and reequipped with F 84F Thunderstreak and in 1958 received F 101 Voodoos to carry a single nuclear weapon for use against battlefield targets such as airfields with Low Angle Drogue Delivery LADD and Low Altitude Bombing System LABS equipment for delivering nuclear weapons at extremely low altitudes. Pilots were trained for one way missions into Soviet territory to increase effective range at the cost of pilot recovery. The Squadron returned to RAF Bentwaters on 30 April 1958 and was renamed 91 Tactical Fighter Squadron on 8 July 1958.

In November 1965 the Squadron reequipped with F 4C Phantom IIs upgrading to F 4D in late 1972. Conversion to A 10 Thunderbolt II began in June 1979 and rerolled with the rest of 81 Tactical Fighter Wing to provide close air support CAS of NATO ground forces by attacking tanks armored vehicles and other ground targets. With the end of the Cold War in 1991 the USAF presence at RAF Bentwaters was gradually phased down with the Squadron inactivated on 14 August 1992 and the Air Base was handed back to the UK Government on the deactivation of 81 Tactical Fighter Wing in 1993. 

This patch dates from 1987.