USAF Patch g CAS b 24 TASS Tactical Air Support Squadron A 37

USAF Patch 24 TASS Tactical Air Support Squadron Golden Jaguars Ground Attack OA 37 Dragonfly Panama Howard AFB 1987 Velcro Fully embroidered cut edge 104mm by 86mm four and one eighth inches by three and three eighth inches.

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Squadron History

The Squadron was activated as 24 Helicopter Squadron in 1956 at Sewart AB equipped with Piasecki H 21 Workhorse flying banana helicopters for logistics supply airlift and troop transport and relocated to Tachikawa AB Japan under 315 Air Division in October 1956. Det 2 was established to provide support to 41 Air Divisions remote radar sites. The Squadron deployed to Burma in 1958 and 1959 participating in Operation South Bound providing assistance to the Burmese Air Force against insurgents. 24 HS was inactivated at Tachikawa on 8 March 1960.

The Squadron was reactivated as 24 Special Operations Squadron at Howard AB Panama on 18 March 1969 equipped with A 37 Dragonfly Super Tweet light ground attack aircraft assigned to 24 Special Operations Wing. The Squadron was redesignated 24 Composite Squadron on 15 November 1973 and was inactivated on 1 July 1975.

24 Composite Squadron was reactivated on 1 January 1976 equipped with O 2A Skymaster FAC aircraft and undertook joint close air support training and exercises with the armed forces of Colombia the Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador and Honduras both in Panama and in country deployments and assisting with counternarcotic operations.  The Squadron was consolidated with 24 Bombardment Squadron Medium and 24 Bombardment Squadron Light on 19 September 1985 and continued as 24 Composite Squadron and reequipped with OA 37 Dragonfly light ground attack aircraft for close support of ground troops in 1986.

24 Composite Squadron was redesignated 24 Tactical Air Support Squadron on 1 January 1987 and with its OA 37 Dragonfly took part in ground attack close air support combat missions during Operation Just Cause the invasion of Panama in December 1989 and January 1990. The Squadron deployed OA 37 FACS to Southwest Asia for Operation Desert in 1990 Shield with its pilots continuing to serve as Battalion Air Liaison Officers during Operation Desert Storm January to March 1991 as the Squadron was being inactivated at Howard AB with formal inactivation on 31 March 1991.

This patch dates from 1987.