Tag Force Series 3

Tag Force and Tag Prix are projects we began cooking up over 2 years ago to apply what we’ve learned with aircraft to military surplus and vehicles (Tag Force) and non-military vehicles (Tag Prix). These share some elements in common with our JETs (hanging system, etc.), but they have an identity all their own. The card shape is inspired by license plates, and the tag shape was designed with function in mind.

Tag Force Series 1 and 2 were formerly offered on a standalone site and will be added to the JE site in the coming weeks.

Tag Force Series 3 consists of:

B-58A Hustler engine cover tags. These all red and many have stenciling. The engine covers were all assigned to specific airframes, and you get to choose the serial number aircraft your tag was cut from. Available are: 60-1117, 60-1129, and 61-2055. 

The Convair B-58 Hustler was the world’s first operational supersonic bomber, developed during the Cold War to give the U.S. Air Force a high-speed nuclear strike capability capable of outrunning enemy defenses. Entering service in 1960, the delta-winged B-58 could cruise at Mach 2 at high altitude and carried its nuclear weapon and fuel in a distinctive external pod to preserve aerodynamic performance. Its advanced systems—including fly-by-wire controls, inertial navigation, and an escape capsule for each crew member—were groundbreaking but complex, making the aircraft expensive to operate and demanding to maintain. Although the Hustler set numerous speed and altitude records and represented a major leap in aerospace technology, rapid advances in Soviet surface-to-air missiles and the emergence of intercontinental ballistic missiles reduced its strategic value. As a result, the B-58 had a short operational life and was retired in 1970, leaving behind a legacy as a bold but transitional step in the evolution of nuclear deterrence and supersonic flight.

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B53 Thermonuclear Bomb parachute can tags. We purchased a large lot of B-58 Hustler parts last year and with it several large parachute cans that were used in nuclear bombs housed in the large centerline weapons pods that hung from B-58s. Hustlers were able to carry a Mk39 or B53 in these pods. 

The B53 nuclear bomb was a high-yield thermonuclear weapon developed by the United States during the early Cold War to destroy deeply buried and hardened targets such as command bunkers and underground facilities. Designed in the late 1950s and entering service in 1962, the B53 had an explosive yield of approximately nine megatons, making it one of the most powerful nuclear weapons ever deployed by the U.S. arsenal. Its massive size and weight reflected strategic thinking that emphasized overwhelming destructive force to ensure deterrence against heavily protected Soviet targets. The B53 remained in service for decades despite advances in more accurate and efficient nuclear weapons, largely because of its unique bunker-busting capability. Following the end of the Cold War and shifting nuclear policy, the bomb was finally retired in 1997 and dismantled by 2011, marking the end of an era defined by extremely high-yield nuclear deterrence weapons.

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AIM-4 Falcon / FIM-92 ATAS missile simulator (CATM) tags featuring the F-106 and MH-53. The simulators were originally built for the F-102/6 but later repurposed to simulate the FIM-92 ATAS (Air-to-Air Stinger) and mounted to MH-53 Pave Low helicopters for J-CATCH program exercises. Offered in AIM-4 Falcon yellow and stencil (featuring F-106 art) and FIM-92 ATAS yellow and stencil (featuring MH-53 art). The yellow tags are solid yellow. The stencil tags feature portions of the original black United States Air Force stencil text.  

The AIM-4 Falcon was one of the earliest U.S. guided air-to-air missiles, developed in the 1950s to arm interceptor aircraft defending against Soviet bombers during the Cold War. Originally designed with both radar-guided and infrared-homing variants, the Falcon equipped aircraft such as the F-102 Delta Dagger and F-106 Delta Dart and reflected early confidence in missile technology as a replacement for traditional guns. However, its small warhead, lack of a proximity fuze, and limited maneuverability reduced its effectiveness in combat, weaknesses that became evident when AIM-4s were used with mixed results during the Vietnam War. Despite these shortcomings, the Falcon was technologically significant, introducing concepts in guidance and seeker design that informed later missile development. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, the AIM-4 was phased out in favor of more capable weapons like the AIM-9 Sidewinder, marking the end of an important but transitional chapter in air-to-air missile history.

The MH-53 played a notable role in the Joint Countering Attack Helicopters (J-CATCH) program of the late 1970s and 1980s, a series of large-scale U.S. military tests designed to evaluate how attack helicopters would perform against fixed-wing aircraft in realistic combat scenarios. During J-CATCH, MH-53 variants—primarily used as special operations and heavy-lift platforms—were employed to help assess helicopter survivability, detection, and engagement capabilities when operating in contested airspace alongside smaller attack helicopters such as the AH-1 and AH-64. The exercises demonstrated that helicopters flying low and using terrain masking could be extremely difficult for fast jets to detect and engage, challenging long-held assumptions about air superiority. Results from J-CATCH influenced U.S. and NATO doctrine by validating the effectiveness of rotary-wing aircraft in the anti-armor and battlefield interdiction roles, while reinforcing the MH-53’s value as a rugged, long-range platform capable of operating in high-threat environments.

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A full set is available that comes with one of each (one of the missile simulator tags is stencil; one is solid yellow) (B-58 engine cover S/N: 60-1117). 

A Tag Team set is also offered that comes with the above full set plus a full set of Tag Prix Series 1. For more info on Tag Prix Series 1, see here.