Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II Patch Warthog

The A-10 Warthog patch is as universal as the aircraft itself — every pilot who ever strapped into a Thunderbolt II knows what this cartoon Hog means.

Fairchild Republic built 715 A-10s starting in 1972, and the aircraft earned the Warthog name from its blunt nose, underslung gun, and the way it looks coming in low on a gun run. The name stuck hard. Pilots, ground crews, forward air controllers, and anyone who ever watched a Hog work a target just calls it the Warthog — the official A-10 designation is secondary. The cartoon Warthog character with lightning bolts and tusks became the universal mascot of the A-10 community, showing up on flight suit patches, nose art, and squadron common rooms from Davis-Monthan to Bagram. The design on this patch is the pure, uncut expression of that identity — no unit, no deployment, just the Hog.

If you flew the A-10, turned wrenches on it, talked it onto a target as a JTAC, or served with any unit that operated the type from 1977 to today, this is your patch. It doesn't matter which base or which conflict — the Warthog community is one community, and this is the universal marker of it.

The A-10 has been scheduled for retirement multiple times and keeps flying because nothing else does what it does at low altitude over troops in contact. Every person who's been part of that story has a claim to this patch.

This embroidered patch measures 3.88 inches wide by 4.25 inches tall in a shield shape. The dark blue top band carries "A-10" in bold gold block letters. The yellow shield body features a gray cartoon Warthog beast charging forward — tusks out, red eyes lit, red lightning bolts shooting behind it — with "WARTHOG" in black block letters across the bottom of the yellow field. Dark blue merrowed border. No unit markings, no dates: just the aircraft and the name it earned.