A museum grade replica of Birdair pilot wings / cap badge
All handmade with gold bullion thread.
Faithful to the original , a real gem for the collector.
Measures 8cm by 2.5 cm
BIRDAIR BACKGROUND
Bird & Sons, Inc was a San Francisco heavy construction company operating in Vietnam and Laos. Bird & Sons, Inc maintained its own air division. William H. Bird had been operating an aviation division of his construction company Bird & Son in Laos since 1960. Bird later sold the air division and its aircraft to Continental, $4.5 million cash, in 1964 to form CASI. When Bird sold that division there was a non-compete clause in his contract with Continental that precluded Bird from operating another aviation company in Laos for a certain number of years. When that time expired, Bird got back into the air charter business and created BirdAir.
BirdAir operated Lockheed C-130s on loan from the United States Air Force and participated in the evacuation of former Hmong guerrilla troops in Laos. BirdAir also helped maintain the air bridge to Phnom Penh flying fromU-Tapao to Phnom Penh daily in February and March 1975 until the day before the country fell.[1]
Bird Air was later reported to be operating DC-6s and USAF C-130s in 1975 in support of the Cambodian government.[3]
more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BirdAir