Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II Warthog Patch

Look at the hog's back and you will find the airplane: two round engine pods and a pair of upright tails, the twin TF34 nacelles and twin vertical stabilizers that give the A-10 its outline. The cartoon is half animal and half jet, tusks out and eyes glowing red, charging along a red lightning bolt. The Air Force named the airplane Thunderbolt II after the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, while the people who flew and fixed it call it the Warthog, or just the Hog. The bolt and the beast carry both names, and "WARTHOG" is stitched across the bottom in plain black block letters. With no unit and no date on it, this is a patch for the whole A-10 community.

The first Fairchild Republic YA-10 prototype flew on 10 May 1972, and 715 airplanes had been delivered by 1984. Everything about the design starts with the GAU-8 Avenger, a 30mm seven-barrel rotary cannon, and with the pilot sitting in about 1,200 pounds of titanium armor known as the bathtub. The 355th Tactical Training Wing at Davis-Monthan AFB received the first aircraft, and A-10 wings later operated from Myrtle Beach AFB, England AFB in Louisiana and RAF Bentwaters and Woodbridge in England. The Hog went to war in Desert Storm in 1991, flew over Bosnia and in Operation Allied Force over Kosovo, and supported troops during Operation Anaconda in 2002 and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Moody AFB, Davis-Monthan and Osan Air Base in Korea have all been A-10 homes since.

The patch is a shield 3.88 inches wide and 4.25 inches tall, with a cut edge finished in a dark blue border and an iron-on backing. A dark blue band across the top carries "A-10" in gold block letters outlined in black. The bright yellow field below holds the gray Warthog, white tusks showing and red eyes lit, its engine pods and tails rising off its back. A red lightning bolt runs behind and beneath it from upper right to lower left. "WARTHOG" sits across the lower field in black capitals.

Few aircraft have a following like this one. Pilots, crew chiefs, avionics and weapons troops, JTACs and the soldiers and Marines it supported all claim the Hog as their own. A cartoon Warthog says that without a single word, and anyone who was part of that world reads it at a glance. The jet first flew in 1972, so the community it built spans more than fifty years. This patch is made for every generation of it.

Put it on the jacket or vest you wear to an A-10 reunion, or frame it in a shadow box with your squadron patch and a photo of your jet. It also makes a good gift for a crew chief or pilot you served with, or for a kid who grew up hearing about the Hog. A range bag works too. Anyone who knows the airplane will recognize it from across the room.