PLAAF unit badges & patches !

[fenwater]

Hi all,

I'm writing in the hopes that somebody will recognize this patch - the source (which I have no real reason to trust) claims it belongs to the PLAAF's "10th fighter division" but I can find no such record of a fighter division by that name. I unfortunately have no timeline for the patch's age to help narrow it down, nor do I know anything other than what is visible on the patch (for that matter, I can't read the writing, and have struggled to get it translated properly, so I don't even know what the characters/anglicized Chinese on here says, although those categories may contain hints). Posting it here as I believe it to be a PLAAF patch. My thanks if anyone is able to help me trace it!

 

[Deino]

The problem is - at least as I understand it - it can't be a 10th Fighter Division, since there has never been one. The 10th Division by name has always been and still is a Bomber Division.

 

[fenwater]

The problem is - at least as I understand it - it can't be a 10th Fighter Division, since there has never been one. The 10th Division by name has always been and still is a Bomber Division.

That's my confusion, as well!

Here's what I've figured out since my last post:

The text up at the top (both the yellow Chinese characters and the anglicized version right below them) reads: "China People's Liberation Army" - the two red characters below that read "air force" - so it does seem to be a PLAAF patch, but it provides no written indication of what subset of the PLAAF it belongs to! I'm wondering if the wall and the arrow might indicate anything else about if it's from a unit (e.g. perhaps the wall-like imagery indicates a unit from a region touching the Great Wall? or just a border unit in general? although that's obviously extrapolation and guesswork), and the arrow might indicate fighters, although the arrow symbol is remarkably similar to the normal PLAAF arrow on their modern emblem. I wonder partly if this patch just represents the PLAAF as a whole, and is maybe an older version of their modern emblem.

Cheers!