Message posted by Peter Merlin (Member since 11/13/2003) on March 08, 2024 at 6:01:20 PST:
No, absolutely not. The white disk was stenciled onto a red flight helmet with the stars "cut out" so that they were red. Eventually, someone with the Red Hats ordered vinyl decals for use on car windows, flight helmets (?), etc. These press-on decals were white with the stars cut out. You can see an example of this inside the cockpit of TACIT BLUE at the Air Force Museum. A later version was produced as a red disk with the stars cut out. So, if you put that on a white surface, the stars would be white on red. There is a Red Hats embroidered patch that is a white disk with a red circular border and red stars. At the bottom of the emblem there is a rocker tab with the words MORE WITH LESS, which is recognizable as the motto from the original Red Hats patch. In the case of all modern variants of the Red Hats stars emblem (on decals, patches, coins, etc.), the stars have a distorted, asymmetrical appearance. I believe this is intended to capture the way the original design appeared when it was applied to a curved surface such as that of a flight helmet. In actuality, the original design was more bilaterally symmetrical. Electronic Warfare Directorate, North Base, (office code: EWAH), produced a patch that was a red disk with white stars in a symmetrical configuration. Trevor Paglen included a picture in his book about "blackworld" patches.
In Reply to: Re: "5+1" stars patch/sticker posted by Alex (UK) on March 07, 2024 at 22:09:18 PST:
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