Quite the Patch

We’ve featured military patches before on this blog but this is a real rarity. Often patches owe their value to the short time frame in which they existed. The overwhelming needs of war meant that squadrons changed roles, moved bases, were merged with others or even disbanded.

It is a tremendous help in authenticating a patch to have the provenance and, happily, this is the case here. This Canadian made felt patch belonged to RC113232 J C Donnelly and is complemented by his worn out identity disc, CANADA nationality title, Observer and Navigator half wings. The 149th (Torpedo Bomber) Squadron was originally formed on 1 October 1942 and Donnelly received this patch on 1 July the following year. By 15 March 1944 the sqaudron had been disbanded but not before seeing service in an anti U-boat role off the pacific coast.