Welcome,
This is the portion of the website devoted to patches from the Department of the Air Force (DAF), which includes the United States Air Force (USAF), established in 1947, and the United States Space Force (USSF), created in 2019. It also includes patches from the USAF’s predecessors.
The War Department created the first antecedent of the USAF—the Aeronautical Division, Signal Corps—in 1907, which through a succession of changes of organizations, titles, and missions, advanced toward eventual separation from the army 40 years later. Few patches were produced during those formative years, but that changed during World War II, when the organization was called the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF). The war-era patches are generally of two types: jacket patches (large and usually painted leather), and shoulder sleeve insignia, or “SSI” (smaller and usually embroidered). In practice, the USAAF was virtually independent of the Army during WWII, but senior officials wanted formal independence.
The National Security Act of 1947 was signed on 26 July 1947 by President Harry S. Truman, establishing the Department of the Air Force, but it was not until 18 September 1947 when the first Secretary of the Air Force, W. Stuart Symington, was sworn into office that the Air Force was official formed. Much later, on 20 December 2019, the United States Space Force—our nation’s newest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces—was established and placed in the Department of the Air Force, just as the U.S. Marine Corps is in the Department of the Navy. Together, the Air Force and Space Force operate thousands of military aircraft, hundreds of ICBMs, and scores of military satellites, sensors, and launch and control sites. They are comprised of active duty, reserve, and guard military personnel, as well as many civilians. With very few exceptions, civilians in the Department of the Air Force do not wear unit patches.
Prior to the 1980s, nearly all patches on uniforms were vivid (full color). Since the early 1980s, the wear of vivid patches has been limited almost exclusively to aircrews and space and missile crews. Customarily, everyone else who wears a patch wears a subdued version (woodland colors during the 1980s, and then desert colors until the introduction of the OCP colors during the 2010s). Exceptions were made for special events (William Tell, Gunsmoke, etc.) when a full-color patch could be worn on fatigues or the Battle Dress Uniform. Demonstration Team uniforms and blue fatigue uniforms also included vivid patches.
Guidance pertaining to the design and approval process of emblems is contained in Department of the Air Force Instruction (DAFI) 84-105, which “applies to all civilian employees and uniformed members of the United States Space Force (USSF), United States Air Force (USAF), Air National Guard (ANG), and AF Reserve (AFR).” Effective with publication of this document in 2021, the final approval authority for DAF emblems is AF/HO. Guidance for the proper wearing of patches by USAF and USSF personnel is contained in DAFI 36-2903. The Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell AFB maintains the records for most of the officially approved organizational emblems of both the USAF and USSF. More information is on their website at dafhistory.af.mil. Just click on the ”DAF Organizational Records” tab at the top. Again, welcome to the DAF section of this site!
