Official VT-3 Red Knights Christmas Patches

Official VT-3 Red Knights Christmas Patches — A Holiday Tradition From the Cradle of Naval Aviation

Even at Pensacola, the Red Knights take a break from training the fleet's next aviators to celebrate the season.

Training Squadron 3 (VT-3) — the 'Red Knights' — is a primary flight training squadron of the United States Navy, based at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, Florida, operating under the Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA). VT-3 is part of Training Air Wing Five and is responsible for conducting primary flight training for Student Naval Aviators — the first step in the pipeline that produces every naval aviator, naval flight officer, and Coast Guard aviator who earns their Wings of Gold. The Red Knights fly the T-6B Texan II, the Navy's primary turboprop trainer, taking students fresh from Aviation Preflight Indoctrination and teaching them the fundamentals of flight: basic aerobatics, instrument flying, formation, navigation, and the discipline that will carry them through advanced training and into fleet aircraft. Naval aviation training traces its roots back to 1914 at Pensacola, Florida — the 'Cradle of Naval Aviation' — and primary training squadrons like VT-3 are where every carrier pilot, helicopter pilot, and maritime patrol aviator first learns to fly. It's where future F/A-18 and F-35 pilots sit next to future P-8 Poseidon and MH-60R crews, all of them wearing the same khaki flight suits and sharing the same nervous energy on their first solo. This Christmas patch brings a festive touch to the Red Knights' proud training mission — a holiday tradition for the students and instructors who keep the pipeline flowing year-round.

Perfect For: VT-3 Red Knights students and instructor pilots, CNATRA and Training Air Wing Five personnel, NAS Whiting Field aviators, T-6B Texan II community members, and anyone who started their Wings of Gold journey with the Red Knights.