USAF Patch Recon s Wing b 17 RW Reconnaissance Wg USAFE RAF Alconbury TR 1 U 2 m Update

USAF Patch USAF 17 RW Reconnaissance Wing TR 1 Maintenance Upgrade Site 7 USAF Plant 42 Skunk Works Palmdale CA 1980s Embroidered on twill merrowed edge 90mm three and nine sixteenth inches diameter.

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Wing History 

17 Reconnaissance Wing was activated at RAF Alconbury England on 1 October 1982 with 95 Reconnaissance Squadron equipped with TR 1A Dragon Lady aircraft tasked with classified high altitude tactical and strategic surveillance electronic and signal intelligence missions in support of NATO and US Forces in Western Europe.  

17 RW received the P T Cullen Trophy for providing the greatest contribution to the intelligence gathering efforts of SAC in 1989 and 1990. The Wing deployed six TR 1s to King Fahad Royal Saudi Air Base Taif Saudi Arabia on 23 August 1990 for Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm to combine with 9 Strategic Reconnaissance Wing as part of the response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. Initially operating as OL CH Operating Location Crested Harvest the combined unit was redesignated 1704 Reconnaissance Squadron Provisional under 1700 RWP Reconnaissance Wing Provisional and 17 ADP Air Division Provisional on 21 September 1990 and carried out 564 Olympic Flame missions throughout the conflict. 

With the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact 17 Reconnaissance Wing was inactivated on 30 June 1991 but 95 Reconnaissance Squadron remained at RAF Alconbury as a non flying organization until 15 September 1993 with the TR 1As were consolidated into 9 Wing at Beale AFB CA. 

Site 7 Air Force Plant 42 Palmdale CA Lockheed Skunk Works maintenance and upgrade of TR 1 Dragon Lady a third production batch of thirty three U 2R aircraft built for high altitude tactical reconnaissance missions with side looking radar new avionics and improved ECM equipment. TR 1 Dragon Lady aircraft were operated by 95 Reconnaissance Squadron 17 Reconnaissance Wing RAF Alconbury England and were reassigned to 9 Strategic Reconnaissance Wing Beale AB and redesignated U 2S on the inactivation of 17 RW on 30 June 1991

This patch dates from the 1980s.