"Mosquito" patch

During the Korean War, the 6147th Tactical Air Control Group, known as ‘Mosquito’, created an advanced air control system (FAC).

The main missions of the FAC were to direct attack aircraft to enemy targets and to conduct visual reconnaissance. Due to the limited resources available at the start of the conflict, the Mosquito's missions quickly became highly valued as they greatly increased the effectiveness of air strikes against the enemy.

With no equipment available at the start of the conflict, FAC pilots carried out their first missions with liaison aircraft that had been subtly ‘borrowed’ just two weeks after the war began. To carry out these missions, the Mosquitos flew over enemy positions at low altitude and low speed to locate and mark targets, a practice that made them particularly vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire.

The squadron-sized unit hastily created at the start of the conflict gradually expanded while continuing to develop. By the end of the war, the Mosquitos had flown more than 40,000 sorties in support of United Nations ground forces. Despite their success during the Korean War, the USAF disbanded the 6147th in 1956, believing that slow-flying airborne FACs were impractical in the era of supersonic jets. Ten years later, in Vietnam, the USAF re-examined the legacy of the Mosquito when it once again needed airborne observers.

The group became famous in February 1954 during Marilyn Monroe's sensational tour of South Korea, where she proudly wore one of the unit's jackets.