Pilot Sword

PNSSHOGUN · July 9, 2021

Pilots with normal Type 98:

Kolekt-To · July 12, 2021

Is there a link to the "Pilot's knife" discussion and/or where can we read more about these knives, either here on this board or elsewhere?

Dave R · July 12, 2021

6 hours ago, Kolekt-To said:

Is there a link to the "Pilot's knife" discussion and/or where can we read more about these knives, either here on this board or elsewhere?

There are some examples here with photo's, but I would be wary. These are not official arms but substitutes and survival knives, much like the tanto that turn up in just wood and leather mounts.

http://ohmura-study.net/762.html

Bruce Pennington · July 12, 2021

And here:

http://ohmura-study.net/767.html

Kolekt-To · July 12, 2021

Thanks guys! I was aware that these knives would be non-regulation. And, buyer beware.

Bruce Pennington · August 16, 2021

Picture of a Kamikaze pilot's headband on this Warrelics Thread. Look at the tsuka. Looks like a standard sized Type 95, maybe in a backpack rig? What's odd is the appearance of a hole in the diamond just below the ito knot.

Shamsy · August 24, 2021

That just looks like the second part of the knot in shadow, Bruce. The ito patterns on swords can change between patterns and manufacturers.

SAS · August 24, 2021

The pilot who dropped the incindiary bomb started a small forest fire up by Mt. Emily due to issues with fog and navigation; last i knew, the sword was at the police department in Brookings, OR in a display case. I intend to see if I can examine it and get photos sometime in the near future, as I am moving to Oregon again soon.

Bruce Pennington · September 13, 2021

Thanks to Geoff, @Kolekt-To, for finding this one on Ohmura's site. An aviator with both an RS and a 98 leaning on the table next to him.

Bruce Pennington · February 2, 2022

On 4/23/2021 at 4:13 PM, ribendao said:

My own little contribution to this topic that you guys probably are already aware of. The Japanese pilot Nobuo Fujita was tasked with bombing Oregon during the war. The picture below is the sword he carried on his mission and is currently residing in a library in Oregon. When thinking of the "pilot's sword" myth, I always think back to this kai gunto that Fujita brought with him and how it helps bust this myth wide open.

"vonStubben" over at this Wehrmacht-awards Thread - Aerial bombing of the US West Coast started a conversation about this event. Quite interesting. There is a good 6 min video of the story by one of the news outlets here:

Bruce Pennington · February 25, 2022

Perpetuating the myth, at an auction, listed as a "tank commanders' sword". No provenance given.

Stephen · February 27, 2022

https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/1038892630?

Special attack unit air corps crew gunto.... You pick which one you want lol.

I do see it as original and not a put together, you?

https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/1038892630/detail

Brian · February 27, 2022

Civilian wakizashi either taken to war, or one of those handed in for the war effort. Only alterations for the war were the leather combat cover and the fuchi cover/snap.
Other than that, it's still in its early fittings.

Bruce Pennington · February 27, 2022

Agreed

Stephen · February 27, 2022

Wasn't disputing that I was commenting on ther sales pitch.

Bruce Pennington · February 27, 2022

5 minutes ago, Stephen said:

ther sales pitch.

Yeah, agree! Quite creative.

Bruce Pennington · August 2, 2022

Don't think this one has been posted here. Comes from this Gunboards Vintage Pics thread.

Dave R · August 3, 2022

On 2/25/2022 at 8:28 PM, Bruce Pennington said:

Perpetuating the myth, at an auction, listed as a "tank commanders' sword". No provenance given.

I am pretty certain that this is a post war shotgun job using genuine parts, and a poorly made modern cover to the saya.

Ontario_Archaeology · August 3, 2022

I have found during my hunt for the shortest gunto that most are poorly made, most usually don't have a gunto tsuba and just a leather combat cover over a non military saya.

That being said they do exist. Here is a sword that belonged to Major Kowada (writting on wood lining), it is a high quality piece, but it is definitely the exception.

Dave R · August 4, 2022

In the above case, I wonder if this was a busy no nonsense mans version of the piquet weight sword.

waljamada · August 4, 2022

On 7/12/2021 at 6:05 AM, Dave R said:

There are some examples here with photo's, but I would be wary. These are not official arms but substitutes and survival knives, much like the tanto that turn up in just wood and leather mounts.

http://ohmura-study.net/762.html

I have a wakizashi with gunto tsuba in those identical style mounts with wood and leather handle. Wonder if this is also a non military mount survival style or perhaps army crew gunto.

DRDave · August 5, 2022

Matt, Yours looks very similar to the one I had, but the colors on mine more closely matched the one you have laying on the table. Had a nice Osaka Shinto blade (Tanba no Kami Kanemichi) that fit perfectly. Wish I had kept it.

Jrbjag · August 6, 2022

Sharing a few gunto koshirae, including some wakizashi-sized, I purchased a few months ago. I've not seen some of these exact fitments on Ohmura or the book I purchased on WW2 gunto.

Has anyone encountered these before?

Best,

John

Alban L · August 6, 2022

Interesting thread, I don't think there was any real need for short "pilot swords". If you look at different photos shared, they show hudge aircrafts, G4M and KI-46 bombers, or Aichi seaplane. As we can see, crews could carry full length swords onboard these aircrafts. Whereas on fighters that would be totally impossible to bring swords, even wakizashi. That would be useless and even dangerous having such a hudge object in a cockpit during dogfight. Perhaps kamikaze pilots just for symbol, and as they were not supposed to carry out complex evolutions.

I would say I would rather use a short sword as a trooper if having to walk on long distances with all my equipment.

Do we know about some makers of these short swords ? Could also be ancient family wakizashi re-used in Gunto mounts rather than a "pilot" or "tank crew" sword.

What's sure is that statistically navy guntos where shorter than army ones but just an inch or two on average. That was for sure not practical to carry swords onboard,, especially for submarines, but there is still a known example of full length sword onboard the midget submarine attacking Sydney that was discussed here :

Alban L · August 6, 2022

10 hours ago, Jrbjag said:

These are beautiful navy swords, second one with sharkskin saya and last one with its cover leather. The first one looks having a non-regulatory leather wrap on tsuka, don't know if it was customized at the time or more recently.

Thanks for sharing !

PNSSHOGUN · August 6, 2022

There have been other examples of similar Ito wraps posted on the forum, so a good chance they are original.

Bruce Pennington · August 6, 2022

11 hours ago, Jrbjag said:

Sharing a few gunto koshirae, including some wakizashi-sized, I purchased a few months ago. I've not seen some of these exact fitments on Ohmura or the book I purchased on WW2 gunto.

Has anyone encountered these before?

Best,

John

John,

Recommend you start a new thread with these. I'd like to discuss them a bit, too, but the subject matter is divergent from the "Pilot Sword" topic.

DTM72 · August 8, 2022

On 8/6/2022 at 8:30 AM, Bruce Pennington said:

John,

Recommend you start a new thread with these. I'd like to discuss them a bit, too, but the subject matter is divergent from the "Pilot Sword" topic.

I also have a wakizashi length Kaigunto, so I would gladly jump into this conversation. I'll get one started now.