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Allied and Soviet Air Forces Please use this forum to discuss the Air Forces of the Western Allies and the Soviet Union.

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  #1  
Old 20th September 2007, 14:44
Alain57 Alain57 is offline
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Arrow Kinfe from Spitfire survival kit

Hello ,
Some days ago i saw in a museum a survival kit from a Spitfire pilot.A very strange thing in it was a knife , it had a orange handle( grip), the blade was curved shaped and there were seven little holes ( 5-6 mm ) in the blade and one bigger hole ( 12 mm ) at the front of the blade. Whats the purposes of these holes ?
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Old 20th September 2007, 15:07
Jon Jon is offline
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Re: Kinfe from Spitfire survival kit

Sounds like it was a floating survival knife supplied with a dinghy.
The handle would have been made of cork and the blade curved and blunted at the end to prevent an unlucky crewman "sticking" the dinghy and getting another swim.
As for the holes
Not got a clue....!
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Old 20th September 2007, 16:23
PeterVerney PeterVerney is offline
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Re: Kinfe from Spitfire survival kit

The holes were to lighten it, it was a floating knife remember
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Old 20th September 2007, 16:42
Jon Jon is offline
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Re: Kinfe from Spitfire survival kit

When you look at the size of the holes, compared to the over sized cork handle i really dont think the holes made any difference in its ability to float!
Maybe they did have a purpose, the whole point of a survival item is it has several uses.
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