January's Update
I received a very informative email from Michael Rose of Victoria, Australia:
"I left the Danish army in 2000 after serving 15 years as a WO-II. So, I have actually used the Model 50,57,62,75 bayonets. The funny thing is that I never really researched the subject in Denmark but I did suck up info during my service. The Model 1950 bayonet marked FKF is Danish property and so is the Danish marked scabbard. I spoke to a few fellow soldiers/collectors in Denmark and no one knew where the bayonets were actually made. I think they were made in Germany like most other edged weapons for Danish defense use. Initially Denmark received M1 Garand Bayonets and rifles from US as Military Aid. Borrowed but still US property. The bayonets were a mix of typical US stuff including 1921 marked cut down ones. Today I can regret that I did not know what you and Gary know and then did collect these bayonets!! Never mind. Denmark later on bought Garand rifles made by Beratta. These rifles are exact copies of the real thing and not chambered for the NATO round. I think the FKF marked bayonets were then bought for these rifles. The scabbard can also be seen with HTK and HMAK markings. This is the same thing as FKF but HTK is from about 1960-1969 and means Hærens Tekniske korps = Army Technical Corps. HMAK is from 1969 to present and means Hærens Materiel Kommando = Army Material Command. All Garand and parts were sold off a few years ago to a Danish dealer. Same dealer just bought 15,000 M/62 bayonets = M5A1 from the Danish Homeguard and that is why you see them around at the moment. But first the M/57 is a M4 bayonet, it is called a Skyttegravskniv model 1957 and this means trenchknife model 1957. Denmark used the M4 bayonet and the M5A1 as trench knives for soldiers issued with sub machine guns, pistols and machine guns. I have seen both leather gripped and plastic gripped M4 bayonets. My regiment had ONE in store only. In western Denmark they had them on issue a lot more. The marking is not entirely clear to me. I think they had Danish markings but not all of them. The M5A1 is called Skyttegravskniv model 1962 and can be seen with HTK and HMAK markings on them. I have always thought they were German made but never knew by whom. M/75 is a German G3 bayonet. From 1975 the German G3 was introduced and most submachine guns put in store but the section commanders etc still had the M/62 on issue. Probably because they had so many of them and could save a few dollars. I have even seen machine gunners issued M/50 bayonets in lack of M/62 in a unit equipped with G3 rifles! Denmark now has the Canadian C7/C8A1 weapons and no bayonets but a knife made by Austrian Glock and called Feltkniv model 1996 = fieldknife model 1996. The Skyttegravskniv was model 1923 and this is an 1889 bayonet with timber grips and slot filled up and issued to NCO and officers. Keep in your mind that Denmark never used the M5A1 as a bayonet and most of the soldiers did not know it was a Garand bayonet."
That’s more information on Danish bayonets than I’ve ever seen printed anywhere. I’d like to thank Michael for taking the time and effort to share it with us. Michael is trying to get more information for us on the US M4 that was in use by the Danish Army. That’s one that I haven’t seen yet.
February 2004
Last month I finished with the foreign M1 Garand bayonets from my collection. This month I’ve decided to show off and highlight some of my rare pieces.
Benhof Prototype Knife Cutter Bayonet Model
In the early 1970s the US Army was looking for a multi-purpose knife cutter bayonet that could be used as a defensive weapon as well as a multi purpose tool. Benhof, Inc. of New York developed several different designs of combination bayonet/wire cutters that were tested at Aberdeen Proving Grounds. A full twenty-page report titled Final Engineering Design Report for Knife-Cutter Bayonet outlines the entire project.
The pictured piece is an acrylic model of Benhof’s Design #2. This design was the direct result of input Benhof received from the design conference at Aberdeen after submittal of Design #1. Fully functional models were manufactured after review of the design.
This model is non-functional. The clear spot near the back of the grip illustrates where the latch would be located to hold the cutter lever in place.
Overall length 292 mm
Blade length 170 mm
Blade thickness 4.8 mm
Blade width 21.3 mm
Click on the thumbnails for the full size photos
See Item #46 for a copy of the report http://usmilitaryknives.com/Documents.htm
US T47 Bayonet
The identification of this bayonet caused me quite a bit of grief. When I first acquired this piece our host emailed me asking about it’s ID. I replied that it was a US T47 and, as those of you who know Frank know, his first question was "how do you know". I replied that’s what I understood it to be and I had seen it designated as such in a foreign publication. Wrong answer. That began a search on both of our parts for some type of proof as to its true identity.
There was an initial bit of confusion because a photo was found of this bayonet with the US T44 experimental rifle. That brought up the question as to why the T44 rifle would have a bayonet designated as a T47. It turned out that the T47 and the T44 rifles were both being developed around the same time in the early 1950s. The bayonet was originally made for the T47 rifle and the T44 was set up to use the same bayonet. A very good book that covers the development of these and many other rifles that led up to the creation of the US M14 rifle is U.S. Rifle M14 from John Garand to the M21 by R. Blake Stevens. This book is available from the Books For Sale section.
This bayonet is a modified M4 bayonet. The lock mechanism is the same as that used for the M4 bayonet but it has been moved to the center of the segmented leather grip. The pommel is similar to that used on the M3 fighting knife. All metal components are blued. The bayonet is completely unmarked.
Overall length 287 mm
Blade length 169 mm
Blade thickness 4.5 mm
Blade width 22.3 mm
Special Purpose Individual Weapon (SPIW) Bayonets
In the late 1950s and early 1960s there was a project to develop a "hand-held weapon holding sixty rounds of ‘point target’ ammunition (deliverable in the form of controlled bursts of tiny, lethal darts or ‘flechettes’), plus three 40mm ‘area target’ grenades in a piggyback launcher, all in a package weighing less than a loaded .30 caliber M1 rifle."1 Prototypes were developed by Olin (Winchester), Springfield Armory, Harrington & Richardson and Aircraft Armaments Inc. (AAI).
One requirement was that the weapon had to be equipped with a bayonet. Most of these weapons had a rather unconventional design, so the bayonets that accompanied them were somewhat unusual.
The Olin (Winchester) SPIW bayonet uses a standard US M7 style blade. The hilt is a cylindrical alloy shaft 15.3mm in diameter. It is attached to the blade tang with two machine screws. The latch assembly is in the back end of the hilt and pivots on a split roll pin. The small crossguard has an open muzzle ring that is 23.7mm in diameter. The blade and latch assembly are Parkerized and the hilt has a darkened finish.
Overall length 310 mm
Blade length 165 mm
Blade thickness 4.5 mm
Blade width 21.1 mm
Click on the thumbnails for the full size photos
The Springfield Armory SPIW bayonet is probably the most unusual of all. It is built from a US M4 bayonet with a modified crossguard. The blade and hilt assemblies are standard M4 parts, but the longitudinal centerline of the blade is offset from the centerline of the hilt by approximately 35mm. The crossguard has a 19mm muzzlering that positions the blade directly over the barrel when fixed to the weapon. This model has a segmented leather washer grip. There is also a similar bayonet with checkered black plastic grips. The bayonet is unmarked.
Overall length 293 mm
Blade length 170 mm
Blade thickness 4.6 mm
Blade width 21.5 mm
Click on the thumbnails for the full size photos
1
R. Blake Stevens and Edward C. Ezell, The SPIW The Deadliest Weapon That Never Was (Toronto, Canada: Collector Grade Publications, 1985) 1.
Colt Experimental M7 Bayonet
This is an early M7 bayonet for the US M16 rifle. According to M. H. Cole, Colt experimented early on with grip materials and methods of fastening the grips on the M16 bayonets. This bayonet has a two-piece hard black plastic grip held in place with two large brass rivets. The blade is marked with the early Colt/Armalite markings. According to the information in Mr. Cole’s U.S. Military Knives Book III, there were only eight or ten of these bayonets made.
Overall length 302 mm
Blade length 172 mm
Blade thickness 4.4 mm
Blade width 20.3 mm
Click on the thumbnails for the full size photos
Ingram M10 SMG Bayonet
This bayonet isn’t in the same class as the others listed this month, but I just had to include it. The simplicity and crudeness of the design make it interesting in it’s own way.
The cylindrical sleeve slides over the SMG barrel and the nut screws on to the suppresser threads on the barrel and holds the assembly in place. The flat stock blade pivots on a 5/16"-18 threaded stud and is locked into place by a standard wingnut. The blade is stamped with four locating tabs that mate with four stamped recesses in the mounting assembly allowing the blade to be securely indexed in position every 90 degrees. This bayonet came to me in its original box with the Cobray logo. Cobray still manufactures a full line of accessories for Ingram weapons.
Overall length 168 mm
Blade length 137 mm
Blade thickness 2.8 mm
Blade width 31.5 mm
Click on the thumbnails for the full size photos
I hope you’ve enjoyed this month’s selection. Next month we’ll start on a selection of foreign bayonets for the US M1 Carbine. In the meantime, if you have any information on any of the items I’ve posted this month or any previous month please feel free to drop me a line and I’ll get the information out to our fellow collectors in next month’s update.
Questions or comments can be forwarded to me at porterkids@aol.com