For those who are not familiar Trevor Paglin uses extreme zoom photography to capture images of US Spy satelites etc. One of his more recent books were images of covert CIA flights used in the Rendition Program.

His new book "I could Tell you but then you would have to be destroyed by me" takes a look at Top Secret / Special Access patches worn by people flying black aircraft, units etc.

Some interesting tidbits.

Most patches that contain 5 stars grouped together plus another somewhere else on the patch signifies a unit based at Area 51 / Groom lake




The sword handle covertly resembles the Bird of Prey aircraft.

Patches for stealth aircraft often carry the lower case Sigma symbol to represent the unknown value of the airframes radar cross section.

An F-22 patch with the title "F-22 low observables flight test" contains the mark "1dB" (Ive seen figures of the Rators cross section being read as -40 so Im not sure what if anything that referes to

Ghost Squadron: A black helichopter group located near area 51 that provides support and SAR for classifed test squadrons



One of my favorites: is the NKAWTG....Nobody" patch. Its from a air refuling squadron that supports black aircraft. The acronym stands for No One Kicks Ass Without Tanker Gas"


There are page after page of these facinating patches and its a must read IMHO for any hard core aviation junkie.






[edit on 12/17/08 by FredT]

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I've been collecting military and aerospace patches for years, and this will make a great addition. At least, until I can convince some folks in the units to ship some patches.