68th FIS Boonie Hat

[a2jacketpatches]

Found this over the week end while scouting my future home. Yup, probably moving again, Vegas was ok but very slim pickings and i just can't live without hunting for old military stuff. I've been lucky from time to time here but it's after a 3-4 wewek dry period usually. Prescott, Arizona! where illegal immigrants are scared, cops wonder why you aren't armed, and lots of old timers who escaped from California. I went to a flea market out there and it was loaded with old stuff.

This is an In Country Made Tiger Boonie. I remembered the interior of the VN made version while researching a Thai made Boonie some time back. This has the 68th FIS (Fighter Interceptor Squadron) Patch stitched to the front and is in near mint condition.

 

[watchmanjimg]

Nice item. The ripstop fabric is interesting. What country do you suppose it was made in?

 

[a2jacketpatches]

I posted a Boonie hat made some time back. The construction and interior was typical of Thailand. This new one is typical of a Vietnamese style interior. Here's a link to a recently sold VN made hat, You'll see the similarities in the lining. And pics of my Thai version with the lack of a liner and reenforcing cloth strips.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Vietna ... 7675.l2557

 

[unclegrumpy]

That is a another great find!

There are a lot of little differences with these boonie hats and the tiger stripe patterns they are made out of, far more that I know. However, I am not sure this new one is Vietnamese made. I agree it looks like it could be, but they typically did not use ripstop tiger stripe material.

In looking where the 68th FIS was deployed, they were in Thailand in 1965....before ripstop....and then in Korea in 1968...then the Philippines in 1973.

I'd say 1973 fits best for this hat, and I would not be surprised to learn it was made in the Philippines. This is one of those things we will likely never know, and in the grand scheme of things probably does not matter.

Good luck with your next move!

 

[a2jacketpatches]

Sounds about right. The only ripstop Tiger was actually out of Thailand and used in VN late war. Not sure if this pattern fits in there, but the lining is typical of VN made Boonies.

 

[unclegrumpy]

I am not surprised to hear the material is Thai made.

It was not uncommon for USAF units to have things made in different places. Also, it was pretty common to buy the material and bring it elsewhere to have it made into something. All of these variables sometimes makes these things really difficult to pin down.

 

[a2jacketpatches]

Yeah, I saw on USMF a guy found a few yards of period Tiger Stripe Poplin.

 

[unclegrumpy]

It used to be pretty common place to find a few yards of tiger stripe material mixed in with guy's stuff. Not the exotic patterns, just the basic Thai and late war Vietnamese. Don't see that too often anymore though.

A friend of mine had a piece long enough to cover his two Gun Show tables....it looked pretty neat, but he eventually got hounded enough, and sold it.

 

[a2jacketpatches]

Haha, and they became new, period, collectible boonies, or a helmet bag, something along those lines.

 

[unclegrumpy]

Yes, it would be interesting to know what was eventually made out of that yardage, but I suspect some of it was juicer than hats and helmet bags.

That does remind me of another guy I knew who had been in the USAF that had tiger stripe bowling shirts made in the early 1980's from material he had.

I remember seeing a then reasonably recent picture of him and his team all decked out....it was pretty cool looking, but he had already tossed his shirt....the loss of the tiger stripe did not bother me as much as the patch that was on it....that does still haunt me sometimes...like now!

 

[a2jacketpatches]

We are all haunted by the past in one way or another, me in several ways from before collecting. The worst example was two or three trash cans with several rifle barrels sticking out with a helmet and big red Party flag topping one off. I can only imagine now what else was there as my Dad drove off. I was a young teenager at the time, he said " I already have a German helmet" He did have an M-42 and a few other things. We built all the Tamiya armor kits together over the years and that's where my basic knowledge came from. To this day those trash cans pass by in a dream from time to time and I still give Dad sh*t about it. :lol:

 

[Rutger]

Uhm, 68 TFS, right?

 

[a2jacketpatches]

Yup, I realized that as well but too late to edit. They changed from FIS to TFS in the mid 60's