Pilot Survival Knives

[ILGAC]

These are also known as JPKs or Jet Pilot Knives. They were (are?) issued as part of an aircrew survival gear, all types of aircraft, not just jets.

My first one was a gift from my Dad (retired USAF LTC) several years ago. I'm not really a collector but more of an accumulator of stuff that interests me.
And these knives do.

Top row are Camillus, bottom row are Imperial. These all date between 1967 and 2011.

9 1/2" overall length. Stacked leather handle, five inch blade, sharpening stone in scabbard pocket.
Blade is 3/16" thick on the spine, quite robust.

 

[jagdawg]

Very cool collection.
Great original and timeless designs. Copied much to this day.

 

[ILGAC]

BTW, the bottom row of knives are Ontario manufacture not Imperial.

 

[bowmanch]

One of those knives was my first knife I took deer hunting in the 80's. That thing is older than I am. Now I am going to have to pull it out of the safe and look at it.

 

[ILGAC]

Colonel Robin Olds with a JPK strapped to his flight vest after an F-4 Phantom mission over South Vietnam

 

[Goodtime Charlie]

I'm assuming that the sheaths with the leather tabs are for sewing on to flight gear, and were later changed to the steel reinforced tip sheaths. Am I correct?

Which company seems to have the better build quality, Camillus or Ontario?

 

[ILGAC]

I don't know if they were sewn onto flight gear but they were made so that they could be strapped and/or tied on.
The full leather were the earliest, then began metal tips and backs and then just metal tips.

Both seem to be very similar quality but I prefer the Camillus

 

[Goodtime Charlie]

Both seem to be very similar quality but I prefer the Camillus

Why do you prefer the Camillus?

 

[ILGAC]

Why do you prefer the Camillus?

I have several Camillus knives, fixed blade and folders. They are all very high quality. The first JPK that my dad gave me was a Camillus and that may have influenced my preference for them.
The Ontario knives seem to be made just as well.

 

[Telum]

I have a Camillus with the sheath dated August 1981. It was a gift from my uncle in the early 80's along with a pair of American Optical aviator sunglasses. I still have the box and case the sunglasses came in.

 

[Goodtime Charlie]

Back about 1974, my late brother bought a used 1967 Chevrolet Impala with the 283 V8 engine. He found a pilot survival knife in the trunk. He sold/traded the Impala loong time ago, and I have no idea what ever happened to the knife. I'll have to ask my nephew if he found it in his dad's stuff. Funny, my nephew wanted to become an astronaut...Nah! I'm sure that had nothing to do with it.

 

[DMaddox76]

This is the knife I got from my Dad. He said it was in survival kits on military aircraft. He was Civil Service for 28 years at Ft Riley at Marshal Air Field. My Glock 26 for comparison.

 

[ILGAC]

This is the knife I got from my Dad. He said it was in survival kits on military aircraft. He was Civil Service for 28 years at Ft Riley at Marshal Air Field. My Glock 26 for comparison.


View attachment 129

@DMaddox76. I have never seen one like that. The blade looks like a cross between a drop point and a spay point. Does the blade or the saw lock open?
I'll have to watch for one.

Thanks for posting the pic.

 

[DMaddox76]

Yes, the blade has a lock right behind the pivot, like new blades do. The saw blade does not have a lock on it. The saw blade looks to be a hacksaw tooth, probably for cutting through aluminum, not so much wood.

The markings on the blade are "COLONIAL" and underneath that is "PROV. R.I.".

 

[ILGAC]

That is a very interesting knife. I bet you are right about cutting through aluminum. Aircraft skin is amazingly thin.

 

[bowmanch]

Here is mine

Can't read the manufacturer stamp any more, but I know it is pre 80's

 

[ILGAC]

I think with the style of sheath/scabbard it is pre 70s.

 

[ILGAC]

Are there no markings on the flat sides of the pommel?

 

[ILGAC]

Like this?