Quote Originally Posted by Cosine26 View Post
As a B47 AOB, SAC 310th Bomb Squadron (M/JET) I was issued a Colt Aircrew revolver S/N C261136 and carried it on deployment to the UKicon in 1955. As I remember it, it was an all aluminum Detective Special.
An old but interesting thread. One thing in the original post stood out to me and that was the serial number. Genuine Colt Aircrewman revolvers had two numbers, the Colt serial number on the frame and then the Air Force had its own number on the butt preceded by A.F. The Colt numbers generally ran in the 2900LW to 7775LW range. None of them had a C-prefix serial number.

What did have a C-prefix serial number was the S&W M13 Aircrewman 6 shot revolver. Perhaps member Cosine's receipt with C261136 was for a S&W Aircrewman, not a Colt.

The Colt was essentially a prototype as only 1189 Colt Aircrewman were manufactured. The gun was not adopted (neither was the 5-shot S&W Baby Aircrewman)and S&W eventually won the contract producing about 40,000 6-shot M13 Aircrewman revolvers for Air Force use.

The Colt.



The S&W M13.



Regards,
Charlie