OA-4 Skyhawk Patch Display

This was a project I came up with to utilize the electronic jamming pod from an OA-4 Skyhawk I obtained to display my Navy patches in March of 2018.

During a detachment out to Fallon, NV a few of us had to opportunity to drive out to one of the bombing ranges and watch forward air controllers directing aircraft in for live fire gun runs on targets.  On our way out of the range we drove past a storage area where they stored old aircraft and vehicles that were towed out to the range for bombing practice.  We asked the range manager if we could go out and look around, and he told us that we could take anything that was small enough for us to carry out.  I found this tail pod and didn't know what aircraft it came from at first, but I had to have it.  A few weeks later some friends and I finally found out that the pod came from an OA-4 Skyhawk used by the Marines in Vietnam (see the second picture).  Well, the pod sat in our attic for years until I finally decided to use it to display my Navy patches from numerous commands and events I had saved over the years.  I made a base out of red oak and traced out a bracket that just fit the hollow inside of the tail section and screwed in down to the top of the base.  I then fit the pod over the base and used existing rivet holes to attach it to the bracket with screws.  I purchased several rolls of heavy duty velcro with a strong 3M adhesive and cut out the patterns for every patch.  

The display still sits in my office today.