Officially Licensed USMC VMFA(AW)-242 Bats Leather Patches

Officially Licensed USMC VMFA(AW)-242 Bats Leather Patches — Death From Darkness, From TBM Avengers to F-35B Lightning IIs

Mors ex tenebris. Death from darkness. The Bats have been delivering it since 1943.

Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242 (VMFA-242) — the 'Bats' — is one of the Marine Corps' most historic and forward-deployed fighter squadrons, with a lineage stretching from World War II torpedo bombers to fifth-generation stealth fighters. Commissioned on July 1, 1943, as Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadron 242 (VMTB-242) at MCAS El Centro, California, the squadron trained on TBM Avengers before deploying to the Southwest Pacific in February 1944 aboard USS Kitkun Bay. The Bats saw combat across the Northern Solomons, the Battles of Saipan and Tinian, and flew anti-submarine patrols at Iwo Jima until the end of the war. The squadron was redesignated VMA(AW)-242 and became the first Marine Corps squadron equipped with the A-6A Intruder — the all-weather attack aircraft that could deliver ordnance at night and in any conditions. In late 1966, VMA(AW)-242 deployed to Da Nang Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, and flew Rolling Thunder missions over North Vietnam, sorties against the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and close air support for allied forces in South Vietnam, logging an astonishing 16,783 combat sorties and delivering 85,990 tons of ordnance during the war. In August 1983, the Bats became the first Marine squadron to deploy to the African continent as part of Operation Eastern Wind in Berbera, Somalia. The squadron transitioned to the F/A-18D Night Attack Hornet in 1991, adopted the motto 'Mors ex tenebris' — Death from Darkness — and deployed to Al Asad Airbase, Iraq, from 2004 to 2005, providing close air support for the 1st Marine Division during Operation Phantom Fury and dropping over 300,000 pounds of ordnance with zero cases of friendly fire. On October 16, 2020, the Bats were redesignated VMFA-242 upon transition to the F-35B Lightning II at MCAS Iwakuni, Japan, under MAG-12, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. In October 2021, two Bats F-35Bs made history by operating from the flight deck of the Japanese carrier JS Izumo — the first time fixed-wing aircraft had operated off a Japanese warship since World War II. This leather patch carries the legacy of the Bats across eight decades of all-weather, all-darkness, all-conditions combat.

Perfect For: VMFA-242 Bats Marines past and present, F-35B Lightning II and F/A-18D Hornet pilots, A-6 Intruder veterans, MAG-12 and 1st MAW personnel, MCAS Iwakuni Marines, and anyone who lives by the motto Mors ex tenebris.