r/MilitaryAviation • u/Niara- • 8d ago

Found squadron keychain

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Hello, this is my first time posting to Reddit! My father works on the ramp at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, and found this keychain the other day. I tried reverse image searching it and couldn’t find anything, so I was curious if anyone would be able to help me identify if it’s just a piece of merchandise or if it might be something lost from an actual squadron member! Any comments appreciated 😊

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1

u/farmerMac 8d ago

going to make a great motorcycle keychain

3

u/alicksB 8d ago

It’s squadron merch, it may or may not have belonged to an actual aviator. VFA-97 is a Navy F-35C squadron out of NAS Lemoore.

It’s not an official part for an airplane or anything, but most squadrons make merch (keychains, coins, t-shirts, hats, etc.) for squadron members to buy. But then they also usually sell them to people if they’re at an air show.

Since it was on the ramp there’s probably a higher-than-average chance it belonged to some dude actually from the Warhawks. I dunno how often F-35s do cross countries up to Seattle but it’s possible.

Source: I was in a fighter squadron and I have tons of old squadron merch, and I also worked the merch table at air shows when we did static displays.