U.S. Air Force E-1 Survival Knife

[@barnaclebill1615]

I absolutely love and appreciate this history lesson. I never knew this or heard of it. Thank u, thank u, thank u!! 😁

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

I’m glad you enjoyed. The pleasure was all mine. Thanks for watching.

[@MikeSmith-lt4rh]

Great video thanks man!

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it!

[@jjcahill8934]

Quite an interesting piece of history! From all I have heard and read, Le May was quite the interesting individual! He certainly chose a more usable, albeit different, type of military issue knife for the budding US Air Force. Thanks for the great video!

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

LeMay was indeed an interesting and sometime controversial figure. It is easy to condemn some of his actions during WWII from today's perspectives. He approached the concept of War in the same way Sherman did in Civil War, and Clausewitz did in his book "On War". You can't defeat an enemy on the field without crushing the will of the government and the population (civilians) supporting it. And time and again, this has proven correct. As for LeMay and his command of SAC, he was probably the right man at the right time and he probably had a better grasp at what the air crew needed to survive than just about any General in the Air Force. Glad you enjoyed the video

[@jjcahill8934]

He certainly was the right man at the right time. I greatly enjoy the movie "Dr. Stangelove" where Gen. Le May was played by Sterling Hayden and one of my Dad's friends/associates, Herman Kahn, was the title role character played by Peter Sellers. Quite an interesting (and dangerous) period!

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

JJ Cahill, I loved Slim Pickens character, Maj. T.J. “King” Kong.

[@jjcahill8934]

Absolutely! :)

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

@Johnny Dominguez, I wonder if this was a hard learned lesson. We can assume that when the Air Force was part of the Army, the army provided base security forces. With the split in 1947, perhaps the Air Force had a lapse in judgement or expected the Army to continue to provide such force or had a budget that lacked funding for an adequate security force. I know that by the 1960s the Air Force had security forces trained specifically for the defense of air bases. Today they use a combination of USAF personnel and civilian contractors. I find that a little problematic.

[@steveh567]

Oh I love the history of this! Nice job on this. Reblogging on my site!

[@EXAWACER1]

Even though my dad was a SAC B-47 navigator, and I’m sure carried the SAC survival knife, I actually found an old Boker 155 in my father in law’s tool bin last year. Had no idea of the history until I researched. He actually got his 155 in the early 40s and used it for fishing. Great history video...documenting the storied history of this great knife. Thanks for sharing.

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

And your dad had great tastes in knives for fishing as the Boker 155 was just that, a small game knife commonly called a Bird and Trout Knife! Thanks for sharing!

[@LarsRibe]

A bird'n'trout knife makes much more sense, than a 6 inch bowie. A small hachet and a victorinox even more so.

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

I tend to agree with you, Lars. What many people fail to grasp is the E-1 kit also contained either a folding machete or a folding saw. The machete was more than capable splitting wood but the saw was probably more practical in Arctic regions. I'm fairly certain the crew were also issued the standard Mil-K pocket knives which are basically a scout knife with the Stainless Steel sides. Thanks for watching, I appreciate your thoughts.

[@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723]

That looks more like a fishing and gutting knife, then any other type of military grade knife,

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

It actually is nothing more than a Bird & Trout Knife. But as it was just part of the survival kit, it was just what Gen LeMay wanted. A knife for cleaning small game and fish; not a clumsy fighting knife.

[@CleaveMountaineering]

Great review, thanks for putting this together. My son just found a Boker 154 in a junk pile on our property that looks almost identical to this one except there's no hole in the pommel. It needs a total overhaul but will make a good knife for him with a bit of work.

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

LeMay, probably didn't pick the knife himself but it fit his general concept. Also these went to SAC first and it. Many other air crews emergency kits continued to use the knives first purchased in WWII into the late 1950's! See my Air Force Knives play list for related videos: kzbin.info/aero/PLJLlvIi3Io4xVF_ZvQ3ULkw-NLXdAdDyt

[@Big7Gaming313]

I have that knife with the black handle

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

The Boker 155? If so , its definitely a keeper. Very practical and light weight camp knife!

[@alanrice39]

Thanks for that history.

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

You may want to see my more recent video where I do a rundown of Air Force knives.

[@jesterskull38]

That’s really cool that they started with that

[@vinniesdayoff3968]

I'd say it would be far more useful than the modern survival type knife which is designed to split logs from the woodpile. Not many woodpiles in the wilderness. Interesting video Tobias.

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

I tend to agree with you. Especially seeing how the crew also had either folding machete or folding saw in the E-1 kit as well as this knife. The knife was a "do everything" bush crafter. It was just a good solid fixed blade that would get your camp-chores done and clean game & fish.

[@baltazarjimenez8639]

Interesting history. I'm a new sub but, definitely I'm going to pay close attention to your future videos. Cheers 🍻👍

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

Thanks Baltazar, I've also subbed to your excellent channel!

[@bloodhound122]

My dad left me his I love it.great vid.

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

That's a cool piece of history you have! Congratulations! Glad you enjoyed the video.