Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton California Patch

The runway on MCAS Camp Pendleton is Munn Field, named for Lieutenant General John C. "Toby" Munn, the first Marine aviator to command Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. This patch puts that runway at the center, running straight down to the point of the triangle. The air station sits inside the base on the Southern California coast, between San Diego and Orange County. It has been launching Marine aircraft since 1942.

The field was designated an auxiliary landing field and a sub-unit of MCAS El Toro on 25 September 1942, and its airstrip was operating that November. It was redesignated a Marine Corps Air Facility on 1 September 1978 and became a Marine Corps Air Station effective 1 April 1985. Today it is home to Marine Aircraft Group 39, MAG-39, with light attack helicopter squadrons such as HMLA-169, HMLA-267 and HMLA-369 flying the AH-1Z Viper and UH-1Y Venom. Medium tiltrotor squadrons VMM-164 and VMM-364 fly the MV-22B Osprey from the same flight line. The air station's own headquarters squadron added the UC-12W Huron in 2020.

The patch is an inverted triangle with a black border and a gold band across the top reading MCAS CAMP PENDLETON in black. Below it a light blue sky meets a green ridge of coastal mountains. Gold wings with a fouled anchor and shield, the naval aviator wings every Marine pilot earns, spread across a black and gray disc at the center. A black T rises behind the disc, and a gray runway with a white dashed centerline runs from the wings down to the bottom point. The layout reads like the approach to Munn Field: hills behind, wings in, runway ahead.

It measures 5 inches wide by 4.25 inches tall. The edge is a cut edge, trimmed flat to the embroidery along the triangle's outline, with a stitched black border. The backing is iron-on: press it to cotton or denim with a household iron, then add a few stitches along the border for anything that goes through the wash often. The colors are solid thread in gold, black, sky blue, green, gray and white.

Marines who turned wrenches or flew from Munn Field know the ridge line behind the field and the sound of rotors in the pattern. Sew this patch on a squadron jacket, put it on a vest for the next HMLA or VMM reunion, or mount it in a shadow box with your squadron patches and your wings. It is a good gift for a Marine aviator, crew chief or maintainer who was stationed at Camp Pendleton. Semper Fi.