Last tweet class Patch

[jrobe]

Found this on the Net

from the book :

Cessna Warbirds

By Walt Shiel, Gregory W. Bayer, Frank Hamilton, Kim Shields

Thomas W. Beaghan was the first Student Pilot to Solo in the Tweet (March 1958 Bainbridge AFB GA) Maybe we can find him????

The second class started in november that same year and was he test and evaluation class for the all jet program.

Couldn't find any patch however

[jrobe]

here's my beer induced stab at a design

I would like to change the skull and cross bones on the eye patch and add some nice saying at the bottom

Edited November 16, 2008 by jrobe

[Stitch]

This website might be of some use. (For fun if nothing else).

http://www.usafupt.com/id21.htm

[jrobe]

This website might be of some use. (For fun if nothing else).

http://www.usafupt.com/id21.htm

Yep.. I emailed the dude who runs this site a few days ago here is what he sent me-----

What blew my socks of was the caption with class 59G's patch

According to the "History of Air Training Command 1943 - 1993", printed by the USAF Office of History and Research, HQAETC, Randolph AFB TX, 1993, the T-37 aircraft were ready for delivery earlier than expected and the Air Force accepted the contract in late 1956. The first T-37's began delivery in 1957 and by 1959 there were 5 bases with the T-37, all now long since closed. Bainbridge AFB was the first primary pilot training base to begin using the T-37's. The first class trained with a combination of T-34's and T-37's was class 59-9 beginning January 1958 (see attachment 1 - excerp from one of my books).

By Aug 1959 five of ATC's contract primary pilot training bases were using T-37's (Bainbridge, Graham, Spence, Bartow and Moore). Malden AB did not pick up the T-37 because it was due to be closed in the early 60's. Incidentally...the first 5 bases that got the T-37 were closed in 1961.

Randolph (3510th FTW) picked up the T-37 in 1960/61. Not much data is available on early Randolph classes. (see attach 2 and this http://www.usafupt.com/id37.htm).

Columbus AFB (3650 PTS) picked up the T-37 in mid to late 1969 with the first class being Class 71-01 in January of 1970 (http://www.usafupt.com/id56.htm).

Laughlin AFB got the T-37 by 1962 when it assumed the ATC training mission from Laredo AFB. The earliest my records go for Laughlin is 1964 (sorry...no help from this base)

Reese AFB (64th FTW) got it's first T-37 in Aug 1977.

Do you want me to go on, or have I gone on too long??

Jim

Edited November 18, 2008 by jrobe

[Guest Sandlapper]

Yep.. I emailed the dude who runs this site a few days ago here is what he sent me-----

What blew my socks of was the caption with class 59G's patch

I did a search for "Terry Uyeyama"....I'm impressed.

UYEYAMA, TERRY JUN

Name: Terry Jun Uyeyama

Rank/Branch: United States Air Force/O3

Unit: 14 TRS

Date of Birth:

Home City of Record:

Date of Loss: 18 May 1968

Country of Loss: North Vietnam

Loss Coordinates: 173000 North 1063200 East (Quang Binh near Dong Hoi on

coast)

Status (in 1973): Returnee

Category:

Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: RF4C

Missions: 101

Other Personnel in Incident: Tommy Gist, PFOD, loss coordinates different

Refno: 1181

Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw

data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA

families, published sources, interviews.

REMARKS: 730314 RELEASED BY DRV

SOURCE: WE CAME HOME copyright 1977

Captain and Mrs. Frederic A Wyatt (USNR Ret), Barbara Powers Wyatt, Editor

P.O.W. Publications, 10250 Moorpark St., Toluca Lake, CA 91602

Text is reproduced as found in the original publication (including date and

spelling errors).

TERRY J. UYEYAMA

Lieutenant Colonel - United States Air Force

Shot Down: May 18, 1968

Released: March 14, 1973

A native of San Francisco, Lt. Col. Uyeyama considers his hometown to be

Leonia, New Jersey, where he attended elementary and high school. He

graduated from Brown University with the Class of '57 and entered active

duty in the Air Force in February, 1958.

Following graduation from pilot training in 1959, Lt. Col. Uyeyama flew with

four major Air Commands: Strategic Air Command, Air Training Command, Air

Defense Command and Tactical Air Command. In October, 1967 he was deployed

with the 14th TRS from Bergstrom AFB to Udorn, Thailand. Altogether, he flew

101 missions.

Terry and his wife Kay have three daughters: Jody Lynn, age 12; Wendy Lea, age

8; Sherry Jaye, age 7; all born in Texas. He plans to continue his flying

career.

The returning POWs have stressed repeatedly how their devotion to and faith in

God, Country and Family had played such an important role in their Odyssey of

survival. These concepts were, indeed, the core of my survival. However, being

a relative newcomer to this group, I also gathered great inspiration and

perserverance from the strength and vitality shown by the men who had accrued

unbelievable seniority in captivity and who had endured greater, prolonged

suffering. I was proud to be among them - to be a member of an everlasting

brotherhood steeled by the common rigors of survival and perseverance from

Communist inhumanity and bound by the loyalty we had for each other.

But the greatest pride comes from the by-products of all those years of

suffering and waiting - the dignity and honor adorning each of my colleagues

as they deplaned at Clark Air Base and their heartrending expletives which

brought out the best in our Country. National patriotism and pride were

resurrected. It wasn't old-fashioned to express these emotions after all. The

vociferous minority ebbed silently to the background, and the majority found

that it still had a heart and soul. I felt this pride most deeply, when, after

addressing a high school assembly, the students came up to the stage to tell

me unabashedly, "I'm proud to be an American."

December 1996

Terry Uyeyama retired from the United States Air Force as a Colonel. He

lives in Texas.

[Butters]

OK Fella's this is 85% accurate statement

ENJJPT 10-02 will be the last UPT Tweet class ever...effectively ending the tweets USAF career...

please feel free to donate Ideas for a class patch.... If it is good enough I hope to make it available to any old T-37 (At-37), SP/IP/EP and let you guys know what day the last one will fly...

I hope to find out the total number of hours the tweet has flown how many sorties, and how many SP's got qual'd in the airframe

thanks

Jrobe

59-G thru 10-02. Wow, I worked with a retired B-52 pilot, when I was an intern with FLDOT, who flew tweets with 7 hrs on them.

Good luck on the patch, there are some great ideas on here. I do hope you are in fact the "last class", meaning there were no less than 4 class patches (actually they were ceiling tiles) at Hondo, when I went thru T-3s, that said they were the "Last Class to Solo" or the "Last class without chutes" But, I think you are right that you have an 85% percent chance of being right.

[Guest]

Have you referenced the designs the last Tweet classes at XL/VN/CB made up? Might be some ideas there?

Just my 2 cents:

How about a patch incorporating 3 Tweets in formation....one in the original unpainted natural metal as lead-ship, dash-2 being painted in the all-white color common to ATC from the early-mid '70s until the early '90s, then dash-3 being the white over blue color the Tweets are today. Sunset background of some type would be cool as previously mentioned.

Building on that...have the 3 Tweets in Missing-Man in subtle homage to our fallen bros. I wouldn't focus on it, but I think it would be a cool touch to those "who know."

[jrobe]

Mock up done -- PM me if interested --- $6.00

Edited May 16, 2009 by jrobe

[Rocker]

That is one sharp patch. Nice work.

[jrobe]

PM won't let me send messages as of right now.... so here is the contact info for those interested

Class 10-02 Patch officer

80 OSS/OST

1911 J AVE Building 2320 SAFB TX

76311

$6 per patch

Please include return address