Hummm

[Stephen]

not one out of the group has a pilot/tanker wak.

 

[Shugyosha]

It looks like the shorter guy on the right has a shorter sword than the others though.

[Dave R]

But some of these guys have!

[Dave R]

And of course Captain Okuyama Michio, as he prepares to launch a suicide raid on a US Airbase on Okinawa.

[Stephen]

I know Dave and the last is not a gunto but a wakizashi,  its just so many think pilots carried short swords which is clearly not the case.

[Shamsy]

I never think that people thought ALL pilots carried shorter swords. The whole 'crew gunto' is quite misleading. Best to say some vehicle crew carried shorter swords (wak and tanto). And of course so did the rest of the military.

[IJASWORDS]

Hummm, indeed!! I've got a few swords of cutting edge length 21 inches. All old blades. There are certain sellers on ebay that would call them "tankers, pilots, crew" swords. I find this hard to believe. Neil.

[reeder]

not one out of the group has a pilot/tanker wak.

 

Maybe they're just that much shorter that the swords look like standard sized Gunto .

[IJASWORDS]

Hmmmm, got a short KAI Gunto (see next to regular KAI), must be from a submarine crew member? Not much space in a SUB!! Neil.  

[Shamsy]

Here is my little tanto mounted in Kai-Gunto koshirae. Older blade, but I cant rememberwho it was signed by. The tsuka is quite a bit thinner than usual, as you can see compared to two standard Kai-Gunto. Possibly pilot, possibly sub. Who knows!