Royal Air Force marked bayonets

[navydoc16]

1.E. 4950 should be a newie? 

 

I think in summary we should have since the last table 

1.    3114

1.B. 7173

1.C. 4032

1.C. 5306

1.D. 6641

1.D. 9219

1.E. 4044

1.E. 4341

1.E. 4285

1.E. 4442

1.F. 6802 OR 1.E. 6802

going to go have a nap now haha 

 

 

Kind regards,

g

Edited 9 April by navydoc16

[JMB1943]

You boys are keeping me on the hop!!

Those newbies bring us to 153 serials now recorded, including a couple of interesting ones.

First is 1E. 4442, which is stamped "W A D" on the pommel; this presumably for RAF Waddington and seeing a station marking is very unusual.

Second is 1E. 4285 which is indeed the first Lithgow-made bayonet to have been recorded wearing RAF colours!

Total now is 153 and counting....happy digging.

Regards,

JMB

[navydoc16]

So I re-read this thread again and dug out mine to try make some sense of it and I thought I would share it again with a bit of better light. I bought it all together as an original set. 
 

Scabbard is HGR 16, with a 16 issue date and nice broad arrow still visible- and I have never noticed it, but it has a RAF throat as well. 

Now the bayonet is a Chapman with no later view dates.

I believe this may be a proper “set” and the pommel and throat show no signs of regimental or other markings that have been scrubbed. 
 

it is only one of a handful on here that appears to be “original-ish” enough that it is still in decent condition with scabbard and frog. So it may be useful from some point of view or another. 

Kind regards

g

Edited 10 April by navydoc16

[JMB1943]

Navydoc,

Your bayonet is very representative of those that were issued to the RAF.

No previous regimental markings, and polished so highly that the blueing at the ricasso has been totally worn away.

That last photo shows a typically dark-looking RAF frog—-are there any markings on it?

Regards,

JMB

[navydoc16]

On 29/03/2019 at 04:23, JMB1943 said:

The second unusually marked is date unknown, WILK stamped "1 over SD over 5    21", together with the Runic-type symbol.

Unit Marked 1.C. 9798, and neither of these two bayonets is in the well-polished condition that usually is found for RAF-bayonets.

 

Regards,

JMB

Just having looked at alot of them today, I am noticing a lot of discrepancy with 1 batch- Almost like they couldn't decide how they wanted to mark the bayonets, between the should out of service, S.D., the under pommel marking, and the RAF regiment on the grips. it becomes slightly more uniformed after that. 

There is also a 1A with a cross guard marking 

sorry if im rambling, but I am trying to get my head around it a little to see a pattern. 

kind regards,

g

Edited 10 April by navydoc16

[navydoc16]

The pommel codes are also curious. They are the same font and size of die. 

I thought there might be a pattern somewhere in there (like a batch of rifles they wanted to serial suffix/prefix match with) or a RAF base to issue them to. But I can't see anything. There is several gaps in serial numbers between. 

with the letter prefix we have 

1.E. 4285 / XXXX

1.C. 5306 / C073

1.D. 6641/ XXXX

1.D. 5282 / XXXX

1.E. 3429 / W019

1.E. 4044 / A363

1.E. 4341 / XXXX

1.E. 4950 / D214

1.E. 5448 / Y210

Kind regards,

g

 

[navydoc16]

And also new serial

1.D. 6021