I have always carried a knife and yes, had a few instances at various airports but for me I wouldn't leave home without one. I also have a small collection of interesting and unusual knives. This knife is very unusual and there is quite a story behind it.
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About seven inches long in total and this example is very well used. The two leaves sticking out of the handle are spring loaded and when you squeeze them together it releases the knife from it's "button" on the sheath:
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This is the top right breast of a suede leather jerkin. Some of you may remember an incident back in 1980 when Kate Aidie ran a commentary about a bunch of hoodlums storming a perfectly serviceable building in London and inadvertently setting it on fire. Whilst they were shooting a couple of terrorists.
Well during that raid, one of the members of the SAS, Tom Morrell ended up upside down on his rope being burned alive. After that raid it was decided that each man had to be equipped with a knife in future and this is one of those first knives. This is how it is laid out on the Jerkin:
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Yes, this is the real thing, and no it was not issued to me, I was never in the SAS though I have a couple of pals who were and one still is. I also have all of the rest of the kit that went with this with the exception of the machine gun and live grenades.
It is surprisingly heavy, just beneath it is another very unusual piece of equipment, it was worn by a friend of mine when he worked as the Sultan of Brunei's bodyguard. That's quite heavy too. We were much fitter back in the day.
That is an RAF issue aircrew knife. Issued to all aircrew and stitched onto a patch on their flight suit. To be used to cut their seatbelt away if ever jammed in a crash. Also made a handy bottle opener whilst on det.
https://www.thesheffieldcutleryshop...-stainless-steel-aircrew-release-knife-m-o-d/