62nd Fighter Squadron Bulldog

62nd Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 56th Fighter Group ("Spikes") · USAF · 1950-1959

Fully embroidered on twill for a flight jacket, this patch carries the squadron emblem approved on 18 June 1943 — a cartoon bulldog, modeled on the unit's own mascot, thrown into a boxer's stance in the colors of the Stars and Stripes. The gloved fists mark a clean fighter and the red lightning streaming from his shoulders the squadron's striking power, a design earned over occupied Europe when the 62nd flew P-47 Thunderbolts with Zemke's Wolfpack. Redesignated the 62nd Fighter-Interceptor Squadron on 20 January 1950, the squadron stood air defense alert at O'Hare outside Chicago in F-86D and F-86L Sabres, still wearing the wartime bulldog on its jackets. In August 1959 it moved north to K.I. Sawyer AFB, Michigan, and traded the Sabre for the Mach 2 F-101B Voodoo.