Message posted by Peter Merlin on September 03, 2010 at 10:03:57 PST:
The approval process varies depending on many factors. For example, USAF unit emblems have to be approved in accordance with specified heraldry regulations. Organizations seeking a new or redesigned emblem should always follow the chain of command, going first to the wing historian, then the major command historian for consultation, guidance, and endorsement of the proposed emblem. First the organization submits a proposed emblem design to the wing historian's office. According to regulations established during AF chief of staff Gen. Merrill McPeak's reign of terror, the emblem design must include the colors Air Force yellow and ultramarine blue. The design is limited to six colors within the disc (squadron level) or shield (group, or above). The design must be dignified and in good taste and contain elements that are either vertical, horizontal, crossed, or face to the right (emblem left). The design must contain no more than three elements and should not contain very small, detailed artwork that will be rendered unrecognizable in reductions to patch size. The most effective patch designs are simple and bold with high color contrasts. The emblem should be symbolic of history, accomplishments, and mission. Ideally, it should have no specific types of aircraft, missiles, or other equipment. It must have no symbols of a morbid character, games of chance, caricatures, or cartoon-type characters. It should not include maps or outlines of specific geographic landmarks. It should have no numbers or letters within the design area (these are only used in the tab or scroll). Finally, the new emblem should not duplicate any known, existing emblems. Obviously, these rules are not rigorously applied to classified unit emblems as we have seen time and time again. There are also exceptions within the unclassified Air Force units, usually to preserve the heritage associated with a historic unit emblem. The best example involves the Red Hats. The Red Hats organization was established within the Special Projects Branch of the 6512th Test Squadron at Edwards Air Force Base in the late 1960s. Their patch, designed in 1973, featured a disk with two tabs (top and bottom), yellow background and black border. In the disk a brown bear wearing a red hat perched atop the hemisphere of a globe beneath six red stars. The tabs contained the words RED HATS and MORE WITH LESS. The Red Hats became an independent squadron in 1977 with the activation of the 6513th Test Squadron. In October 1992 (during the McPeak era), the 6513th TS inactivated, but its assets and personnel were retained as the squadron immediately activated as the 413th Flight Test Squadron. The unit accepted the lineage and honors of the 413th Bombardment Squadron (established in April 1942) which meant that they would have to wear the historic unit emblem of the 413th, a red disk featuring a black cat riding a bomb. At this time, the Air Force was being restructured according to McPeak's concept of operations. Many unit commanders during this time suddenly found that they had to accept the lineage and honors of a particular unit with a historic emblem that did not reflect the new units mission. The commander of the Bomber Combined Test Force, for example was going to be saddled with a unit patch featuring Dumbo the elephant. He fought hard and successfully for a different emblem. The Red Hats commander was not so lucky. He argued that the units unique mission dictated that they should be able to retain the Red Hats emblem and he submitted a redesigned version that included Air Force gold and ultramarine blue and the unit designation on the tab as dictated by the new regulations. Unfortunately, his proposal was disapproved as the McPeak wanted to preserve the historic 413th emblem. In its new mission, the 413th FLTS planned, provided for, and conducted tests of electronic warfare and avionics systems and equipment, on aircraft assigned to the Air Force Flight Test Center. In May 2004 the 413 FLTS was inactivated as part of a consolidation and realignment of electronic warfare assets. Remaining personnel and assets were transferred to 412TW/EWAH, part of the Electronic Warfare Directorate at Edwards. They now have an emblem that features a red disk enclosing six white stars. Meanwhile, the 413 FLTS was activated at Hurburt Feld, Florida, in February 2005 to conduct testing of AF special operations C-130 and helicopter projects. The new 413 FLTS retained the "bombcat" emblem, adding a dagger superimposed on the bomb. Even during the era when the Red Hats were using the "bombcat" emblem, the old bear emblem was still being used at Groom Lake. Another recent Red Hats emblem featuring a white disk with six red stars has also been seen. Then there are project emblems, which are not subject to the rules of heraldry. These may originate with a contractor, military, or combined test organization. They are usually subject to the approval of program security officials. The HAVE BLUE project emblem, designed by Keith Beswick of Lockheed, featured a cloud with the nose of the airplane (colored light blue and equipped with a flight-test data probe) sticking out one end and a skunk tail (from the Skunk Works logo) sticking out the other. It originally featured the words HAVE BLUE FLIGHT TEST TEAM. The security officer refused to approve the emblem until the words FLIGHT TEST had been removed, despite the fact that the imagery made it quite obvious that it was for a Lockheed Skunk Works flight-test project with or without the words. A patch for the F-117A Combined Test Force, known as the "Baja Scorpions" originally included the words STRIKES WITHOUT WARNING but the program security people thought that gave a way too much information so the words were deleted. Another F-117A patch was produced before anyone in security noticed that the Latin motto (FURTIM VIGILANS) translated as "vigilance through stealth." The entire lot of 1,000 patches was ordered destroyed, though an unknown number survived. A patch for the AGM-137 TSSAM test force was banned because it was not considered "politically correct." The infamous "Rodeo Gal" patch featured a topless woman riding a killer whale. There were also ordered destroyed with similar success. The Bird of Prey patch was probably much easier to get past security because there was nothing that obviously revealed any details. Now that the airplane has been declassified, we can see that the planform is represented in the hilt of the sword. There is no single set of rules. It all depends on the situation. When Tony Moore and I designed a patch for the X-51A, it had to be approved by a large number of people within the Combined Test Force and on up the chain of command. When we designed a patch for a black project, we only needed a verbal agreement from two or three people.
In Reply to: Re: Interesting patches posted by JoenTX on September 02, 2010 at 23:46:01 PST:
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