Pilots Knife

One of the most famous knives with inertial / gravitational opening of the blade is the Luftwaffe military knife.  In the knife literature, this original knife is known by various names: "Luftwaffe Fallschirmjäger-Messer", "German gravity knife", "Luftwaffe gravity knife", "Paratrooper gravity knife", "Bundeswehr gravity knife", etc.

The knife was adopted by the Luftwaffe in may 1937. The need for a paratrooper to have this knife was dictated by the need to quickly release the parachute from the slings.

The knife had a simple and reliable design and opened with one hand. In order to open the knife, you had to press the lock lever, after which, due to its weight or a wave of the hand, the blade was pushed out of the grip.

In total, there are five different modifications of this knife, of which the first two (M-1937 and M-1937/II) were produced during the existence of Nazi Germany, the remaining three (M-1955; M – 1963 and AES slings) - in the post-war period.