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Knife Discussion
24 September 2013, 22:30,
#1
Knife Discussion
Prior to the 1950’s most US military knives issued to aircrews and combat infantry were designed primarily as weapons, without much thought as to general usefulness in escape, evasion or survival utility applications.

A great WW2 example is the British Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife, which while ideal to quietly take out an enemy sentry, a knife of this design does not allow one to blend in with the locals if caught or captured.

While it is true that a fighting knife is valuable in hand-to-hand combat, a long thin shafted screw driver if needed may accomplish the same thing and will not attract anyone’s attention if the evader is caught with it on his person, especially if accompanied by other tools. When a screw driver is discarded after the deed is done, if not located immediately, it will eventually wind up in someone's tool box and never be seen again.

The point of evasion is to remain covert. A combat knife sticks out like a sore thumb and is of little to no use to the evader when his real mission is staying under the radar and discreetly moving to his extraction point.

"Learn to use what you’ve got or can get." A Navy Signalman friend of mine when deployed always carried a pair of linesman's pliers, box cutter and screwdriver everywhere he went. He often couldn’t carry a weapon, but could go almost anywhere with his VOM meter and tool belt. On several occasions his everyday work tools served as effective impact weapons, intimidator or come-along. When evading his way “back to the world” pliers served as hammer, steel fire striker, pot gripper, as well as all of its normal uses. On hunting trips today he still carries those same basic tools and uses them to grab and hold a deer skin, while deftly peeling the critter using his box cutter in the other hand.

After the 1950’s more emphasis was put teaching air crews and noncombat personnel on the basics of escape and evasion. A cutting edge of some kind is a “must have” to survive away from civilization. You might manage without one, but it will be much more difficult. You can improvise a cutting edge using a shard of glass, by sharpening a piece of scrap metal on a rock, or knapping an edge on a piece of hard quartz.

Planning to always a knife capable of getting you out of harms way is much easier. My mentors were career intelligence officers, US Marine embassy guards and pilots who collectively both had lots of bush and Third World experience. Everywhere they went they observed primitive native peoples in Asia, Africa and South America. Tribesmen usually had only one blade, so favored big ones and used them for everything.

My mentors taught a multiple blade approach. Greg, the bush pilot carried a Mil-K-818, and 5-1/2" fixed US Aircrew Survival Knife. Harry, the spook and trainer of indigenous para-militaries carried a Collins machete for rough work and used a file to sharpen it. The machete was a used as a weapon, digging tool, chopping firewood, building shelters, saving his smaller fixed blade for fine work.

Surgical “prep blades” were routinely kept in the first aid kit. A small black Arkansas stone served to touch up the fixed or razor blades as needed.
In his later years as a licensed PH in Africa Greg favored plain carbon steel blades. A plain carbon steel work knife can be sharpened on a river rock and it will last for years Plain carbon steel makes more sparks when striking the Doan fire tool or ferro than stainless, is easy to sharpen, doesn’t shine and takes a dull patina with use which is non-reflective.

Neither Greg nor Harry had much use for serrated blades because they are difficult to re sharpen effectively. A plain blade is easier to maintain. Greg always carried a British Army Sheffield pocket steel and gave any blade a couple strokes to touch it up after every use.

Aircrew personnel overflying combat ares must choose the most reliable, sturdy, compact, light weight tool to accomplish the task. The primary survival uses are digging for field sanitation and foraging, cutting poles and stripping fibers to make cordage for shelter and trap construction, preparing fires for warmth, signaling, water purification and for food preparation. A common choice in the US military these days is to combine a sturdy fixed blade of 5 inches or more with a compact utility pocket knife such as the Mil-K-818, Swiss Army Soldier, Leatherman Super Tool or Gerber multi-tool.

Choices are shaped by training, mission experience and the experience of others. My own bush experience is limited to North America, New England, the Appalachians and Atlantic barrier islands. My Vietnam-era military service was not combat, but as an engineer evaluating enemy equipment, interviewing our returning troops to learn what gear and training worked and what didn’t, then working with contractors to get “new toys to the boys” which were better than what they had.

Further, co workers at "the farm" had us out in small groups doing our best to break and or damage their choices of gear for survival, escape ad evasion. The Hollywood Rambo knives were easily pushed past their limits. Only the best kit which stood up were recommended. Simple and sturdy is good. After each evaluation a full debrief was presented to the suits and commanders as to the reasons why an item wasn't a good idea.

Can you puncture and score a Plexiglas canopy, enlarge the opening, and by using the knife butt as a hammer to break out the scored canopy section, removing it from a jammed canopy to facilitate extraction of an unconscious pilot, cutting through the 3-point ejection seat harness, all to be accomplished in under 2 minutes?

Hopw about batoning through a 1" hardwood pole or manually cutting through a 2-inch diameter sisal rope soaked in sea water. Will the knife blade break or bend more than 30 degrees when clamped in a vise and a 150 kg transverse load is applied for 30 seconds, say if a knife must be used as a belay anchor point or piton?

Along with testing, air crews must be taught how to effectively use their equipment. No matter how hard we tested or how much information we gained, if the information was ignored it put personnel at a disadvantage
A case in point is the Aircrew Survival Knife NSN 7340-00-098-4327.

http://www.bestglide.com/AF_Survival_Knife_Info.html

During the Vietnam era custom makers ground saw teeth on knives, supposedly to cut through sheet metal where the government didn’t provide an exit in a Chinook, but I never met a single military or company pilot who actually used one for that. But, the teeth on the spine of the issue Aircrew knife are wonderful to perform two important survival functions: 1) To shave magnesium fuzz to make tinder from the Doan fire starting tool, and 2) to accurately cut notches in sticks for constructing fish and small game traps.

“Blood grooves” or “fullers” on a blade are most useful for placing your fingers, to choke up towards the point, controlling the knife in fine work, than for reducing adhesion when removing it from the subclavian artery of an enemy sentry. The holes in the hilt are not to tie your knife to a pole to make a spear. They are to attach a tether so that you don’t lose the knife! The sheath pocket contains a sharpening stone. Pilots often stretched the pocket slightly to accept the Doan fire starter, and then had their rigger sew a narrow pocket along the back to hold a sharpening steel. The substantial hex-butt of the aircrew knife serves either as an improvised hammer or sap. It’s best when doing so to grasp the sheathed blade to protect your hand. Insert your thumb through the sheath tie-down, looping it across the back of the hand, across and out the palm “nightstick” method, to maintain a secure hold, but enabling quick release if necessary.

At other times the tie-down is not intended tied to the leg, but lashed securely, butt-down on a pack strap, the blade is quickly accessible, not flopping noisily to snag on brush.

When the enemy is listening, pounding a knife through a sapling by striking the spine of the knife with a rock or stick is not recommended because it is too noisy! Litter or shelter poles should be cut by bending the sapling over until it touches the ground. The blade is held horizontally, pushed firmly and straight down where the stem bends from vertical to horizontal. The sapling will then yield, and can be finished off quietly with a few quick cuts. The blade has to be sharp enough and solid enough to do so.

73 de KE4SKY
In
"Almost Heaven" West Virginia
USA
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25 September 2013, 07:32,
#2
RE: Knife Discussion
Thanks for that post some good info there.
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