I've never seen one of these. USAF baby aircrewman. Is this price typical? After tax and shipping...around $9K.
The Air Force ordered 605, how many survivors?
The Air Force ordered 605, how many survivors?
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USAF Baby Aircrewman
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Hair Trigger
US Veteran
5th Ed SCSW says few authentic examples exist, most were destroyed. Estimated that only 10-15 have survived, and to beware of many counterfeit examples.
I'd be very suspicious of this one, for the price alone. Rock Island Auction sold one in 2022 with a holster for $35,250, and one in 2021. for $40, 250. One in VGC went for $6950 in 2022.
I'd be very suspicious of this one, for the price alone. Rock Island Auction sold one in 2022 with a holster for $35,250, and one in 2021. for $40, 250. One in VGC went for $6950 in 2022.
kwill1911
Member
Authentic...and pretty cheap.
kwill1911
Member
That's a nice example of a Model 56, which is a totally different gun.
Inkgardener
Member
How do you know if the letter comes back inconclusive?
kwill1911
Member
1. It has a letter, although the specific shipping information on these early prototypes isn't available.
2. I know how to recognize the authenticity.
2. I know how to recognize the authenticity.
The Last Standing Knight
Member
I've seen Aircrewman revolvers before, but they were K-frames
A J-frame Aircrewman? I didn't know they even existed and have never heard of one until now.
A J-frame Aircrewman? I didn't know they even existed and have never heard of one until now.
jkingrph
Member
I was a USAF Officer, medical not aircrew. Back in '69 I qualified with a S&W revolver, the Combat Masterpiece, never heard of or have seen one of those in service.
Yes it was. I was in on it until $8,000.00. I really did not have the money so let it go. I thought it would sell for a lot more. I will probably regret not pushing higher, but the winner might have pushed back.
It is in far nicer condition than others that sold for a lot more money. I think if I was the seller of that one, I would be a bit (lot) disappointed in that final price.
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Hair Trigger
US Veteran
Same here, but I was medical aircrew (Flight Nurse). Depending on where we flew (such as into Panama during Just Cause and Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm) we were issued 2" M36's. The lightweight Aircrew guns were long gone by 1989, at least for our purposes. We wore the M36 in a shoulder holster inside our flight suits, since we were technically non-combatants. For defensive use only.
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In our unit in Vietnam there were many A.F. Mdl 15s that had been “ acquired”. Saw one of the light weight Air Crew revolvers at a show 40 years ago, there was a pool of drool in front of the table, lol.
Malysh
Member
The USAF also bought around 1,189 Colt Cobras with alloy frames and cylinders, barrels marked Aircrewman, and modified stocks in this time frame.
The S&W baby Aircrewman and the Colt Aircrewman are very rare revolvers.
Here's the commercial version of the "baby" Aircrewman, an early Chiefs Special Airweight with the alloy cylinder (I actually have two of them). It's my understanding that a reason these are even less common than they might otherwise be is if one was returned to the factory for any reason, a steel cylinder would be substituted for the original.
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ordnanceguy
Member
In addition to Kevin's comments above, unless I miss my guess I believe that the person who bought the revolver is a collector who knows more about the alloy guns and the Aircrewman revolvers in particular than perhaps anyone else on the planet.
In my view that gun is totally legit and was a bargain.
Regards,
Charlie
SgtDog0311
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Wow! Good read too.
kwill1911
Member
There are more variations of the Aircrewman revolvers than most people realize, including the Colt versions. There are less than 20 of the 5-shot revolvers known and less than 10 of the 6-shot A.F.No. revolvers known. There are hundreds of survivors of the contract guns that have standard serial numbers. But, there are also quite a few "restored" guns and fakes of various levels of competence.
