Tailhook Assoc. 1964

The Tailhook Association ("Hook") — annual naval aviator reunion · USN · 1964

Founded in 1956 by active-duty carrier aviators who gathered at Rosarito Beach, Baja California, the Tailhook Association issued a patch for each annual reunion; this one marks the 1964 gathering, held during the era when the fast-growing event had just moved from San Diego to the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. The embroidered figure is a "Paddles" — a Landing Signal Officer waving an approaching aircraft aboard over the wake and the arresting wires — an emblem already nostalgic by 1964, since the mirror landing system trialed aboard USS Bennington in 1955 had retired the paddles from working flight decks within a few years. Reunion patches like this were not uniform items but jacket insignia, sewn on by the men who had earned their traps at sea. This example comes from a private collection and was worn on the right sleeve of a Navy Commander's leather flight jacket.