Western 2 pin pommel AAF 5 inch?

[phantomfixer]

Would this be a wartime Western 5 inch AAF  knife example..? 

[dustin]

Those known to had been procured by the AAC had a pommel molded onto the tang, no pins. Additionally, Those procured by the AAC had a Bakelite guard like that of the pommel. There is a type with bakelite tang and guard with two pins in the pommel, but may or may not be considered an "AAC knife". I would class your Western as a 5-inch type manufactured during WWII, no specific service affiliation. 

[sactroop]

I've seen a wide variety of Western knives with mixes of Bakelite parts and metal parts when it comes to guards and pommels, as well as only bakelite or metal guards and pommels.  It does seem that Western had a tendency to use up the remaining bakelite parts after the war on any knife it could fit on when they resumed manufacture of many of their pre-war pattern knives.  IMHO, I think those parts were more or less exhausted in a couple of years or less.  Since Western still used the war-time tang stamps on many of their knives up into the early fifties it can be hard to positively ID some as war-time production or not.

[phantomfixer]

Thanks for the info guys, greatly appriciated 

[dustin]

That is a great point by Sactroop, I should had omitted the last sentence in my response without further thought. 

 

The better images I have the AAC Western 5-inch hunting knife are going in my book. But, I have a couple that didn't make the cut and I'll show here. 

First is an image of one being worn, New Guinea, December 1943.

 

 

[dustin]

Of the clear images I have, they are all of the molded pommel, bakelite pommel and guard with a low handle strap scabbard. 

Here is a perfect illustration with extreme detail., photo taken in May 1944.