Grumman EA-6B Prowler Patch

The EA-6B Prowler went to war with four people in a jet built for two, a pilot and three electronic countermeasures officers. Grumman stretched the A-6 Intruder airframe to make room for the second cockpit, and the first Prowler flew on 25 May 1968. VAQ-132 became the first operational squadron in July 1971. For more than four decades the Prowler's job was to blind enemy radar and keep strike packages alive. Its crews were a small community, and everyone on the carrier knew which jet made the whole strike possible.

Prowlers made their first combat deployment over Vietnam in 1972. In Desert Storm in 1991 they fired more than 150 AGM-88 HARM missiles at Iraqi radars, and they flew over Afghanistan and Iraq in the years after. The heart of the system was the AN/ALQ-99 tactical jamming pod, up to five of them hung under the wings and centerline. Two Pratt & Whitney J52 turbojets pushed it along, and Grumman built 170 production aircraft between 1966 and 1991. Navy VAQ squadrons flew it off carriers and from shore, and Marine VMAQ squadrons flew it for the Corps.

The patch is 4.5 by 4.5 inches, cut to shape with a black border. Prowler is stitched in gold script across a blue banner at the top. Below it a gray Prowler is shown from above on a red triangle, gold canopy forward, pods slung under the wings, and gold lightning bolts crackling around the nose and tail. The bolts and the blue atom in the corner point to the electronic side of the job. Wings and tail break past the edge of the triangle, so the jet looks like it is flying off the patch.

The Navy retired its last Prowlers in June 2015, with the final operational flight on 27 May. The Marine Corps kept them flying until VMAQ-2 was deactivated on 8 March 2019 and made the last flight on 14 March. The EA-18G Growler took over the electronic attack mission. Pilots, ECMOs and the maintainers who kept those old airframes up all carry real pride in the Prowler. Strike crews who came home because the radars went dark owe them for it.

Put it in a shadow box with your VAQ or VMAQ squadron patches, air wing patches and an EA-6B Prowler round patch, or iron it on a flight jacket. It also makes a good gift for an ECMO, a Prowler maintainer or a grandson who wants to know what Grandpa flew. The patch has an iron-on backing and can also be sewn on.