Estate Sale Find #2 - Jet Pilot Knife aka USAF Survival Knife

[Racer X]

I never really liked the look of the 5" pilot's knife. Purely aesthetics to me. Now those 6" one look far more "balanced"

Same reason I like the Cattaraugus Quartermaster knife over the shortie KaBar they make today.

 

[BGM109]

No doubt Puller, I'm sure you'll get your money back in spades.
I think I'm going to start looking for one in the KC Metro. Tom

 

[BGM109]

That's GREAT Tony glad you found one. I'm going to start looking around here in the KC MO area & se what I can find. enjoy your knife. Tom

P.S.- There's absolutely nothing wrong with the knife you brought home either.

 

[AJ]

I never really liked the look of the 5" pilot's knife. Purely aesthetics to me. Now those 6" one look far more "balanced"

Same reason I like the Cattaraugus Quartermaster knife over the shortie KaBar they make today.

Would have to agree with you. Had plenty of chances to have a survival knife (that is what we called them) on Uncle's dime when on active duty. Always opted for a Ka-Bar.

I do own a Cattaraugus 225Q and like it, much more than the survival knife.

 

[waffles]

Looking at my pics, I apparently did have another a couple years ago. I guess I used it as a stand for handgun pictures, no idea of what became of that one. Might still be in a moving box.

 

[jeffrefrig]

Those are all cool knives, but, unless I missed it somewhere up above, what's the reason for the hex head? I've never seen that. Was it screwed onto the shaft then pinned into place? (Please be gentle on me!)

 

[Flattop5]

I never really liked the look of the 5" pilot's knife. Purely aesthetics to me. Now those 6" one look far more "balanced"

Same reason I like the Cattaraugus Quartermaster knife over the shortie KaBar they make today.

In the WWII era, the average soldier was 5'9". My dad, who was a Marine, was 5'8". He said that the KBAR knife was too big. I agree. It was too big. The new, short KBAR would have been better from a universal standpoint.




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[Chubbs103]

I was issued one with all of my flight gear in Pensacola. When we switched out our PRC-90 radios for CSELs (emergency radios with GPS) the Parachute Riggers pulled all the survival knives out of our gear as they didn't fit with new, larger radios. I've always wandered if they went to DRMO or just "disappeared."

I really need to buy one for myself.

 

[s&wchad]

Those are all cool knives, but, unless I missed it somewhere up above, what's the reason for the hex head? I've never seen that. Was it screwed onto the shaft then pinned into place? (Please be gentle on me!)

The original Marble’s design had a round pommel with opposing flats that was screwed on. The design was changed to the hex pattern, probably for ease of namufacturing.

After a short time, the construction was changed to a peened on pommel. They kept the hex pattern, because it was useful for hammering purposes.

 

[Drm50]

When I was in RVn our supply only had two knives. Those tread plate SS folders and the survival knife in sheath with stone. The ones we had were junk. I forget the name on blade but was not one of the well known knife makers. I may have missed out because at the time I thought they were all junk and paid no attention to them. We got Kbars by trading to other outfits and USMC.

 

[AJ]

The tread plate SS folders are TL-28's. I have several all were issued to me as I was an aircraft electrician. They are dated on the blade. They were made by Camillus and dated on the blade. I do have one that is marked U.S. Marine Corps and it is from WWII.

We did not think much of the survival knives either. Much preferred the Ka-Bar.

 

[Tony Tiger]

I brought one home from Vietnam, but it is kind of quirky...
I worked on EC-47s at TSN
It looks exactly like these Camillus brand.
No finish on blade,
stacked leather grip,
Hexagon pommel with open thread showing about 1/8 inch
The only thing is that it is stamped JAPAN. No date.
Looks of high quality and service duty, not cheap looking.
There was no sheath with it.

I was able to purchase an updated sheath that Ontario sells now with the new JPSKs, it comes with a sharpening stone too. I oiled it and tied it up. The fit is great!

 

[richcory]

We called them a “bolt knife” in survival school. They were as useful as a dull spoon for cutting anything & there was no amount of sharpening that would change that.

That said, I do own a current OKC version & from the factory it was dull. Every bit the useless piece of steel I remembered. I had it sharpened by a blade smith local to me

Cory

 

[Retired W4]

...
The actual official name is -
KNIFE, HUNTING, SHEATHED, SURVIVAL, PILOT’S.

I don't know how they came to be known as jet pilot survival knives. As far as I know they were issued/used in all service branches in all types of aircraft. The exception being aircrews flying in Class B uniform.

 

[AJ]

I don't know how they came to be known as jet pilot survival knives. As far as I know they were issued/used in all service branches in all types of aircraft. The exception being aircrews flying in Class B uniform.

Probably some civilian who was selling them and trying to get the gullible to purchase them.

 

[s&wchad]

I don't know how they came to be known as jet pilot survival knives. As far as I know they were issued/used in all service branches in all types of aircraft. The exception being aircrews flying in Class B uniform.

It was probably assigned by the government when they asked for design submissions. I believe the request came from the Air Force and the Marble’s design won out. Here’s their drawing (note the title):

I do find it odd that the sheaths were brown, when the USAF used black holsters starting in 1950.

 

[BE Mike]

I bought this Camillus N.Y. 5-1967 at an Army surplus store outside the gates of Ft. Rucker. I carried it throughout my tour. Unlike a previous poster, this one takes a good edge. I never knew what the two holes are for in the guard. I guess it's a little late to worry about them now! I once used it to process a white tail deer that I harvested. I also wore one of these during my tour: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zjv1u9GOs8[/ame]

 

[mikerjf]

Back in the late 60's I pored over the P&S Sales catalog wondering whether to get the Pilot knife or the Marine knife with my paper route money. I liked the sharpening stone on the Pilot knife, but after a month of deliberating ordered the Marine US Camillus.

Only took it camping a few times, before firearms were an option. It's still practically new.

Wish I would have also bought the Jungle Hammock back when it was still the real deal. Eventually got a lightweight cheapo version which worked well enough that I gave it away.

 

[ordnanceguy]

Gentlemen:

It goes back a little further than what has been discussed here so far. To understand the Jet Pilot Survival Knife (which later underwent several nomenclature changes) one needs to know about it's immediate predecessor blade, the Pilot Survival Knife or technically speaking the "Knife, Survival, Pilot's (with sheath)". That was a 5 inch, unfullered, fixed blade knife that was adopted by the U.S. Navy's Aeronautics Equipment Board in 1953 under specification MIL-K-8662(AER). This knife was produced by Imperial, Schrade Walden Cutlery Co. and Camillus Cutlery. The image below shows the Imperial PSK that I have in my collection.



During the early 1950's the US Air Force was using a different fixed blade knife for pilot and other aircrew survival purposes. That knife was the Boker Model 155. It is rarely encountered today and few people outside of US military knife collecting circles are even aware of its existence. While other fixed knives were also used by the Air Force during this time the Boker is what was packed in the Survival Kits utilized by the Strategic Air Command. The image below shows the Boker in my collection.



It was the Navy, not the Air Force, which later once again took another stab at getting an improved knife for aviators. That is when Marble Arms Co. got involved. It bid on a Navy contract to supply 23,857 Pilot Survival Knives. (It did not win the bid.) As an alternative it offered to provide the Navy's Aeronautics Equipment Board with an improved knife made to more stringent specifications. The basis for that improved knife was to be the Marbles "Expert" #545 knife with saw teeth added to the spine.

Further development of that concept lead to the 6 inch Jet Pilot Survival Knife. The Navy ended up buying 5000 of the Marbles knives for $60,000 and paid an additional $25,000 for the rights to manufacture the knife by any vendor. Marbles produced beautiful, well crafted knives under this contract but they were far more expensive to make than the Navy wanted. Thus, Marbles failed to secure the follow on contract which was awarded to Camillus. Camillus had a long history of USGI knife production and had the skill and know-how to produce military knives cheaply and at high volume.

So, both the earlier Pilot Survival Knife and its successor, the Jet Pilot Survival Knife, were at the start Navy blades. As stated earlier the JPSK was later adopted by all branches of the US military. It was never an Air Force only knife. My friend Frank Trzaska, US knife researcher and author, is responsible for having ferreted out most of this information.

HTH.

Regards,
Charlie

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Don’t recall ever seeing the Boker Knife.
But for you non AF Aircrew folks, Survival Kit items were in the Kit.
You seldom ever saw them.
Usually at the refresher class or some Life Support Shops had displays of Kit items.
That was usually at the Wing Shop and you usually didn’t have much reason to go there.
You had your helmet and the Chute was in the plane - SAC.
So at the class the Instructor would go through ordinary stuff pretty fast.
This is your sheath knife, this is a Lensatic Compass, etc.
Was anything slightly interesting?
Well Yeah!.
The Bolt Action 22 Hornet Rifle.
Before you could use it, you had to screw in the barrel and set the headspace. With a set screw.
I want to go after a Polar Bear. I hope I got this Headspace set correctly.
I remember the Sheath Knives of that era to be mundane looking ‘commercial knives.’ Don’t recall the Boker but didn’t actually see that many close up. They were in the Kits!
That would be B-52 and B-58 Kits.