20th Air Force Shoulder Patch

Twentieth Air Force commanded B-29 Superfortress operations against Japan and later managed the strategic bombing of North Vietnam. This numbered air force controlled the war against Japan's homeland and later presided over Rolling Thunder. The shoulder patch represents a command that operated at the strategic level when technology and doctrine were being written in real time.

The Twentieth Air Force activated in 1944 to manage the B-29 campaign from bases in India and China, then transitioned to Pacific bases as the war moved west. The patch carries the continuity of a command that evolved from the earliest long-range strategic bombing missions into the postwar strategic air force structure.

The shoulder patch design reflects USAF numbered air force tradition—formal insignia that marks a command responsible for sustained, large-scale air operations.

For the B-29 gunner or the strategic bombardier: Twentieth Air Force was your command. You understood that long-range precision bombing was the future of warfare, and you flew the missions that proved it. That patch connects you to the men who carried the war across an ocean.

PopularPatch features the strategic air force patches that shaped American air doctrine. The Twentieth Air Force represents that institutional knowledge and the veteran experience behind it.