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Colt Aircrewman

4K views 20 replies 17 participants last post by  highway08 
#1 · (Edited)
In 1947, the U.S. Air Force became an independent branch of the military. In 1950, the Air Force began developing a lightweight survival and personal defense weapon for the aircrew. Colt and Smith & Wesson submitted aluminum alloy revolvers with two-inch barrels for testing. After the initial round of testing, the Air Force ordered 1189 Colt "Aircrewman" revolvers. They were numbered A.F. No.1 thru A.F. No. 1189. By 1959 a number of blown cylinders or frames had been reported so the Commanding Officer of the Air Material Command ordered all Aircrewman revolvers destroyed. Only around 50 have been catalogued as being authentic. (this information was taken from the Rampant Colt Summer 2009) According to the Blue Book, maybe less than 25 have survived. Kwill has documented a 100 or so. 25 or 50, or 100, doesn't really matter, these are extremely rare. They were produced in 1951. The caliber is 38 special. The frame and cylinder are made of aluminum. The sights are fixed. The grips are checkered walnut and have silver Air Force medallions.


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#3 ·
What a fine gun. So glad you shared this rare gun with us all. Love it !! Thanks for posting it.
 
#4 ·
Amazing find, congratulations!

I grew up 5 minutes up the hill from Bolling AFB (Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling) in Washington and remember seeing large USAF aircraft there as well as folding wing aircraft at the adjacent Anacostia Naval Air Station in the 50's and early 60's. Now the Defense Intelligence Agency as well as various offices are located there and the only aircraft are presidential helicopters.
 
#12 ·
I own three at this point. Two typical USAF marked and one unmarked. In am sure I posted about them in the past. The one that looks black spent the past six decades in the dry desert of the southwest, and the one that looks brown was in steamy coastal Virginia for the same period of time. The “new in box” unmarked was in a Maryland safe deposit box for the past 40 years. It was purchased by a professor in 1957 from a Colt engineer who received it (per letter) for unknown reasons and sold it several years later. Kevin told me it’s only the 8th known unmarked Aircrewman.
 

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#17 ·
I have some "Treasury Loads"...the .38 Special +P+. I wonder how well an Aircrewman would stand up to one of those. Wait...let's try it on a S&W version first!
 
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