SWHF Search Provides no clues on mystery gun

[cochees1]

Hello You said that Jim f keeps track of all the transition 357 post war guns. Is there a thread where he post the info on the 20 so guns??? Thank you

 

[jimmyj]

In my era all weapons (GI and Private) were kept in the armory and logged in and out. A long shot would be to look in the armory records of that time period.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Gover-mint don't pay Excise Tax.

 

[DCWilson]

My guess (and it is just that) is that a Port Transportation Officer has quite different duties and responsibilities from an AFB Transportation Officer, especially during wartime. I think that when the USAF was separated from the Army in 1947, the responsibility for moving war materiel and personnel went to the logistics command (and a logistics officer) while personal and household goods (and spouses) were handled by the transportation office.

I would agree with Kevin here. When this came up on the Colt Forum several years ago, there were posts (which I cannot now find) that suggested the Port Transportation Officer was in charge of receiving durable and consumable goods from manufacturers and producers, then arranging transshipment to the Pacific centers. One link that I remember as being helpful at the time no longer links to a page that defined the position's responsibilities.

This park service brochure For the SFPOE might be of interest: The San Francisco Port of Embarkation - Golden Gate National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service) There are links within the document to downloadable PDF files. The record of historic structures is particularly nice, with informative maps and photos.

The Oakland Branch of the SFPOE was on the other side of the Bay. It underwent several name changes in the decades after the war but was generally called the Oakland Army Terminal.

 

[NavySCPO]

Kevin:
Only slightly veering off topic, if that is the case, how did the Transportation Officer end up with all those Commandos? I've always wondered about that.

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but I'll veer is right into the ditch Absalom, these were 2" Commandos, many of which were issued to Navy and other Aircrew personnel; many also went to the OSS in Europe and elsewhere according to my searches. The prices on the 2" have gone nuts, and the 4" bring respectable dollars. I've read the reason they're all parkerized is because Uncle Sam wouldn't pay $27 each, so Colt changed the finish, left off some marks, and put a smooth instead of a serrated cylinder latch...that reduced the cost to $25...interesting story if true.

I own a 4" Commando, near as I can tell most of those went to DOD Security Agencies.

 

[Absalom]

I would agree with Kevin here. When this came up on the Colt Forum several years ago, there were posts (which I cannot now find) that suggested the Port Transportation Officer was in charge of receiving durable and consumable goods from manufacturers and producers, then arranging transshipment to the Pacific centers. ....

Interesting stuff.

But before we get too stuck on the Port, here is another Transportation Officer at an Army depot getting 800 guns, a letter I just remembered coming across on another forum.

 

[Doug M.]

IIRC, I read in "Sixguns" (Elmer Keith) that the original barrel length was 8.75", and that at some point the longest standard barrel came down to 8.375" due to the requirements of some form of competition. I would expect that it would be possible up until some date of which I am unaware to get the original length barrel.

 

[mikerjf]

Any way to find out who the post transportation officer was? 71 years ago, *just* possible he's still around. Might remember an unusual gun, esp if he was a shooter himself.

 

[Absalom]

Any way to find out who the post transportation officer was? 71 years ago, *just* possible he's still around. Might remember an unusual gun, esp if he was a shooter himself.

The practical issue there would be that "the transportation officer" here is not one actual person who received the gun. Given that Wright-Patterson (created out of several installations in Jan. 1948) had personnel of 21,000 (1947, post-war low) to 25,000 (1949) around that time, the transportation officer, whatever his specific duties, commanded a sizable bureaucracy and almost certainly spent his day behind a desk, never laying eyes on stuff arriving at the receiving warehouse.

I have Colt letters for shipments of 300 and 1000 revolvers to the "Commanding Officer" of Army depots; I bet they never saw those guns either. Some supply sergeant, likely much smarter and more experienced than any officer, handled the actual shipment

 

[Benton Quest]

I still go with anti-alien theory.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

 

[Thinnes]

I bought a book about the history of Wright Patterson AFB. It houses the Air Force Museum. It was the place where captured German and Japanese planes went for examination. For example, one guy examined the ball bearings in a German plane, and the ball bearings were marked by the factory. Big mistake. We bombed the factory and no more ball bearings for awhile.
The base also was the hq for the Air Force investigation into UFOs. So that theory is still viable. Sen. Barry Goldwater asked to see the UFO area and Gen LeMay said "you can't see it and don't ever ask me again."
Col Chuck Yeager was on the base to fly recovered Migs. That theory is still viable, but unlikely of course.
The gun shipped right before Truman was presented his gun and within days of the base changing names from Air Force Technical Base to Wright-Patterson AFB. So maybe the gun was a presentation gun. The commander at the time was Brig. Gen Joseph Morris, known to the men as Grampa Joe.
I'm going to start with a letter to the Museum curator and ask if there is an official or unofficial base historian.