This undated photograph shows three 199th Fighter Squadron pilots (L-R): George Duncan, John “Moon” Carroll, and James “Kimo” Moncrief.
John Carroll’s flight suit appears to be a lighter color because during the 1960s, flight suits were orange. Clint Churchill comment, “I recall wearing orange flight suits in 1969 and 1970 but not after that.” Rick Richardson added a more detailed comment:
As you know the F-102 was used extensively by Air Defense Command and the orange flight suit was thought to be good for the command since it was easy to see when a pilot bailed out. The 199th used it too for we thought we could be seen if we bailed out over the ocean until we heard that sharks could also see us too because of the contrast in color. But it became a moot point during the Vietnam War.
On the right shoulder of John’s flight suit is the Deuce patch. It was red with a yellow deuce silhouette.
The each of the 199th Fighter Squadron flights had identifying colors: A-Flight – red, B-Flight – blue, C-Flight – yellow, and later, D-Flight – green. Those were the colors of the flight’s ball capes and scarfs.
Special Thanks to Clint “Church” Churchill, Joseph “Primo” Ah New and Edward “Rick” Richardson for providing ID and comments for this post.
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