Military Lighters - All eras all brands

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Looks like a commercially-made bullet lighter:

 

 

About the size of a lipstick tube.

[Cobra 6 Actual]

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Here’s a Vietnam fake that I purchased years ago, before I knew anything about these common and ugly attempts to deceive:

 

 

 

It would now be easily recognized as a fake.

[yokota57]

US Army / "B" Company 15th Transportation Corps Battalion (Aircraft Maintenance & Supply) 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). RVN. Japanese-made "Penguin".

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Nice score, as usual, yokota57.

[Cobra 6 Actual]

[yokota57]

2 hours ago, Cobra 6 Actual said:

Extra tasty lighter! Thanks for posting it C6A. Ichi-Ban !!!

[Manky bandage]

Took a bit of gamble on this one on ebay, Park Sherman? 

 

 

 

 

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Man, that crackle finish is pristine, Manky bandage! I’ll have to let yokota57 address your question, since it’s not my area of expertise. 

[Manky bandage]

Ill have to wait until it arrives to see if I got lucky, if not then it will work its way into living history use so I wont be losing out. At one point id of felt that the crackle paint was redone but after finding a near mint Evans Spitfire maybe I got lucky again...

 

Its funny how little of these are left over here, probably used abused and lost to time. Its becoming a case of, the most common overlooked items becoming thin on the ground.

[yokota57]

Pristine indeed! My lighter collecting interests commence with the Korean War, so I have no direct experience with WW2 "Black-Crackle" lighters. I have heard of fakers using "Rhino Liner" truck bed spray to approximate the WW2 finishes. On the plus side your Park-Sherman insert appears just as clean as the cases exterior. Follow up when you have it in-hand.

[Cobra 6 Actual]

[GAZOO]

picked up a few at the local show this weekend,

(FIREFLY)
501 C/R GP
NCO OPEN MESS
ASA KOREA

(PENGUIN)
MILITARY AIR TRANSORT SERVICE
U.S. AIR FORCE

(MYFLAME ?)
HQ SQ 10th TAC RECON WING
1 JUN 58
SPAGDAHLEM

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Cool ones, GAZOO. They could almost be the opening line to a joke … “So, two Penguins and a Mylflame walk into a bar, the one …”

[easterneagle87]

Here is one located within a lot of lighters I saw on a FB Mkt listing. Is this a VN era unit lighter or later? 

 

[Manky bandage]

Well it arrived, not 100% mint but I doubt I’d find a better one, and at the price of it I’m very happy. I can’t find any branding on it though, maybe it got missed but who knows. 
 

Maybe a Park Sherman, maybe it isn’t. 

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Huh, a little mystery as to why no manufacturer’s name, but perhaps during wartime that went “by the board”, Manky bandage. Still pretty danged close to mint! Nice score!

[Manky bandage]

I'm not sure what the production line of these looked like, probably one of millions made. I did notice that the ''Extra flint'' is rather light on the strike, so it could of actually worn off. Or another more plausible explanation is process elimination to speed up production. At the end of the day, I doubt anyone cared what brand was on it just as long as it did what it was designed to do. 

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Exactly so. As long as you could use it to light your smokes the rest didn’t really count. 

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Hi EE87, I’m sorry I missed your earlier post. If we could see the bottom of that Zippo better we could read the date code and know when it was produced. 

[yokota57]

1 hour ago, Cobra 6 Actual said:

Hi EE87, I’m sorry I missed your earlier post. If we could see the bottom of that Zippo better we could read the date code and know when it was produced. 

+1. The Patent # is present so it is no later than early 1967. If available clear pics of the engraving and the base would be helpful.

[easterneagle87]

On 4/28/2026 at 7:16 AM, yokota57 said:

+1. The Patent # is present so it is no later than early 1967. If available clear pics of the engraving and the base would be helpful.

 

I checked the listing and the seller had posted this information:

• Military Commemorative Zippo (2001): Features the "Big Windy" 180th Assault Support Helicopter Co. insignia. Stamped with Zippo date code "A 01".

 

Not an old one then? 

[yokota57]

4 minutes ago, easterneagle87 said:

 

I checked the listing and the seller had posted this information:

• Military Commemorative Zippo (2001): Features the "Big Windy" 180th Assault Support Helicopter Co. insignia. Stamped with Zippo date code "A 01".

 

Not an old one then? 

The photo of the 180th Zippo in your original post is no later than early 1967. The #251 Patent is clearly visible. The vast majority of sellers on Ebay couldn't correctly date a Zippo to save their lives. 2001 Zippo base stamp is entirely different. They are confused.

[yokota57]

1 minute ago, yokota57 said:

The photo of the 180th Zippo in your original post is no later than early 1967. The #251 Patent is clearly visible. The vast majority of sellers on Ebay couldn't correctly date a Zippo to save their lives. 2001 Zippo base stamp is entirely different. They are confused.

 

[Cobra 6 Actual]

This is a little bit outside of the scope of this thread, but the lighter was too cool not to post:

 

 

This lighter celebrates the space flight of Vietnam and Soviet Union astronauts. 1980 Soyuz 37 mission. “Lien Xo” translates as “Soviet Union” on the helmet of the astronaut on the right.