S&W Air Crew Revolvers
The following information is cited from a book:
History of Smith & Wesson by Roy G. Jinks (circa 1976)
S&W built a Chief Special Airweight as a product in their product line. They received numerous complaints about cracked cylinder so in 1954 the aluminum cylinder was replaced with a steel cylinder. There were 3777 of this model produced
The USAF (SAC) considered these revolvers but elected to go with the M&P Airweight M45 and M12. The M12 was the USAF model designation. The USAF purchased a number of these revolvers but withdrew and destroyed them along with the Colt Aircrew revolvers. No numbers are given. No report on performance of the civilian version was provided. There is a note in the book that civilian owners should contact S&W before firing them.
As previously reported, the USAF purchased the M38 Colt aluminum equipped Detective Special revolvers designated M13 (Colt AIRCREW). These were withdrawn and destroyed but a few survived.
The USAF designed a special round for these revolvers designated M41. It was loaded with a 130 gr load.
The standard Chief Special failed on occasion. I had an LEO friend who had a failure. The frame failed where the top strap meets the back plate. He returned it to S&W and they returned with a new frame carrying the original serial number
FWIW