I read the material on your website, attributed to Tom Cross, regarding the design of the 517 patch.  I corresponded with Dick Spencer in 1986 in the course of researching a magazine article on WW2 airborne insignia, and he provided his recollections of the origin of the design.  In fact, it may have been my contact with Dick, and with Tom, with questions about the patch's origin that prompted an article by Dick in the December 1986 issue of Thunderbolt (an issue I appear to have misfiled).  All this came to mind recently when I was contacted by an insignia collector who wanted information on original 517 patches.  (I have a non-commercial website, www.insigne.org, that attracts a lot of inquiries regarding insignia.)  Anyway, in digging through my files, I found the March-April 1988 issue of Thunderbolt, in which there is an aspect of the patch's history that I, and perhaps Tom Cross, too, had forgotten.  I scanned the pertinent information and have attached it.  I also found in my files a snapshot, apparently plucked from someone's scrapbook, judging from its back, showing the 517 patch logo on a sign hanging outside 517 Prcht. Inf. Headquarters.  The photo appears to have been taken in the States, which would date the design to before the regiment's leaving for Europe.