The Don Englebreston Collection

Rear View of Party Suit and Flight Jacket Insignia Among Attendees at the Vendor Area, SOAR XXXVIII, Las Vegas, 22 October 2014

Rear View of Party Suit and Flight Jacket Insignia Among Attendees at the Vendor Area, SOAR XXXVIII, Las Vegas, 22 October 2014

The camera pans right at the 38th Special Operations Association Reunion, Las Vegas, 22 October 2014, revealing the backs of two veterans' garments. At right, the orange one-piece party suit carries a large silhouette of a straight-winged, propeller-driven attack aircraft consistent with the Douglas A-1 Skyraider, together with U.S. and French flag patches; its wearer flew Skyraiders from Da Nang in support of MACV-SOG teams. At center, an olive flight jacket carries 'AIR PIRATE' down the sleeve and a winged-skull device on the shoulder. Party suits and heavily patched flight jackets are squadron traditions, worn to reunions as a portable record of a flying career. Project: 219867