VP-11 Proud Pegasus Patrol Squadron Eleven Patch

The Proud Pegasus squadron was the fourth outfit to carry the VP-11 designation, and the one that kept it longest. Patrol Squadron Eleven was established on May 15, 1952 at NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island, with twelve P4Y-2 Privateers. Three earlier squadrons had flown as VP-11 before being redesignated VP-54, VP-21 and VPB-11. This one moved to NAS Brunswick, Maine in 1954 and stayed in the Atlantic patrol business until 1997. Its winged horse flew over the North Atlantic, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and the South China Sea.

The Privateers gave way to the P2V-5 Neptune in June 1953, the P2V-7 in 1956 and the SP-2H Neptune in December 1962. During the Cuban Missile Crisis the squadron deployed to NAS Argentia, Newfoundland on October 24, 1962 and flew surveillance until mid-November. It moved into the P-3B Orion in January 1967, and that October deployed to Keflavik, Iceland, earning a Navy Unit Commendation for antisubmarine work, the first such award to a patrol squadron outside a combat zone. In July 1972 VP-11 deployed on emergency orders to NAS Cubi Point in the Philippines, where it earned a Philippine Presidential Unit Citation for disaster relief. Later came the P-3B DIFAR, the P-3C Update II in 1981, deployments to Rota, Spain and Lajes in the Azores, and Sigonella, Sicily for Desert Shield in 1990 and Adriatic operations in the mid 1990s.

The patch is a royal blue disc with a red outline and a scroll across the bottom, 4.38 inches wide and 4 inches tall, with a cut edge that follows the circle and scroll. A white Pegasus with black shading rears to the left with yellow wings swept back, and a white lightning bolt cuts behind it. PATROL SQUADRON ELEVEN runs across the scroll in yellow block letters. The winged horse is the Proud Pegasus of the squadron's nickname, a fast flier for a squadron that spent its life on long patrols over open water. It has an iron-on backing and can be sewn on.

VP-11 crews spent decades doing the patient work of antisubmarine warfare: long hours on station, sonobuoy patterns, and contacts tracked and handed off. From Brunswick they covered the Atlantic approaches through the height of the Cold War, then deployed wherever the Sixth Fleet needed eyes. The squadron earned a Meritorious Unit Commendation for its 1996 Sigonella deployment. VP-11 was disestablished on August 2, 1997 at NAS Brunswick. Pegasus crews still gather and still talk about the Orion.

Frame it in a shadow box with your aircrew wings and a P-3 photo, or sew it on the jacket you wear to a VP reunion. It makes a good gift for a father who flew or turned wrenches with VP-11 at Brunswick. Proud Pegasus, 1952 to 1997.