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-   -   RAF MK3 aircrew knife patch (https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/639823-raf-mk3-aircrew-knife-patch.html)

LeftBlank 13th Apr 2021 16:50

NutLoose was just trying to be helpful but two of the links he posted were for the patch for the J Cutter that replaced the curved blade knife the O.P. was asking about. The Americans used a J Cutter at the time and I guess that’s why it was copied by the R.A.F.
The curved knife was for cutting shroud lines and puncturing dinghies not for survival in a hostile environment!
Try looking for a pre-90’s flying coverall from one of the many second hand sellers (including eBay) and cutting off the patch.

oldmansquipper 13th Apr 2021 17:57

Ex82.

those knives were primarily designed for sharpening china graph pencils. The shape changed because JPs were always stabbing themselves when attending Friday happy hours in the bar.:E

wiggy 13th Apr 2021 18:28


Originally Posted by Loski (Post 11027689)
I Think the blade was changed in the mid 80s to prevent damage to dingys when ditching at sea
Graham

I'm fairly certain the curved blade design was being issued a bit earlier than that but I legacy models were certainly around in the mid -80's

Willard Whyte 13th Apr 2021 18:58

One of these fits inside a RAF knife patch.


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....84a6cbbc60.jpg

Apparently...

hunterboy 13th Apr 2021 19:13

Wouldn’t that knife get you 4 years now?

John Eacott 14th Apr 2021 06:36


Originally Posted by Loski (Post 11027689)
I Think the blade was changed in the mid 80s to prevent damage to dingys when ditching at sea
Graham

The change was much earlier than that: my original issue in 1968 was the stabbing knife and ISTR the curved blade arrived very early 1970, although supply could have begun late 1960s with the lazy supply chain to the RN!

Delays in flying clothing were legendary: as the Junior Joe on 826NAS I was the boss’s copilot and he declared the squadron unavailable when my two piece goon suit had a fault which couldn’t be fixed nor replaced. Heads rolled and the first of the new one piece green goon suits magically appeared out of stores to restore the squadron to full OR :cool:

wiggy 14th Apr 2021 09:18


Originally Posted by John Eacott (Post 11027945)
The change was much earlier than that: my original issue in 1968 was the stabbing knife and ISTR the curved blade arrived very early 1970, although supply could have begun late 1960s with the lazy supply chain to the RN!

That makes sense John, I was issued with my first knife mid 70's and remember it being the curved design...I also am probably one of the handful around here who has actually used the knife for it's intended purpose (1980 +- ) and I do remember that one definitely having the curved blade......

charliegolf 14th Apr 2021 11:26


Originally Posted by Mal Drop (Post 11027307)
Wait. It's a knife? I always thought it was a bottle opener ...

Well, you certainly couldn't cut much with it, that's for sure!

CG

Less Hair 14th Apr 2021 11:44

Has anybody ever used this knife for something?

FlexibleResponse 14th Apr 2021 14:06

This is the one we used (RAAF)...Survival knife and combined parachute shroud line cutter.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....86a56d7e80.jpg

wiggy 14th Apr 2021 19:48


Originally Posted by Less Hair (Post 11028104)
Has anybody ever used this knife for something?

Curved blade? yes, I dropped a hint in post #27...

You only get the full horror story over beers, so short version for here is..splashdown in a pretty feisty sea, 15-25 knots of wind....had done all the good Sea survival stuff on the descent(including pulling pins out of Koch fasteners :uhoh:..yes it's that long ago...) but even though I detached the chute PDQ and despite the theory about the 'chute being blown well clear in such conditions I ended up wrapped in the ******lines, lots of them, pinned down in the water, unable to get into the by now inflated dingy ....

Knife deployed and used as advertised to cut enough lines cut to allow me to get aboard...care of course being taken to try not to cut the PSP/dingy line. Have to say it was a fairly healthy, breaking sea and I swallowed a bit of water before getting untangled and into dingy..I'm not sure quite how things would have ended up without the knife...

Sadly at some point in the subsequent proceedings I lost the darn thing, shame, would have made a good souvenir.

The one thing I learnt from my episode was that on a really bad day getting out of the aircraft may only be the start of your problems......

Al-bert 14th Apr 2021 21:19


Originally Posted by Less Hair (Post 11028104)
Has anybody ever used this knife for something?


Ideal for de-coking one's briar, which went with the SAR Buoy slippers in the good old days!

ex82watcher 17th Apr 2021 10:26


Originally Posted by Loski (Post 11026486)
Hi guys I’m looking for an RAF Mk3 aircrew knife patch of the green nylon type that sews to a flight suit. I have the knife and sheath I just need the patch as shown in the bottom of the attached photo.
TIA

Loski - PM for you.


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