The hilt should fit easily in your hand, and the blade should not be so heavy that it tends to drag the hilt from your fingers in a loose grip. In choosing a knife there are two important factors to bear in mind: balance and keenness. In close-quarters fighting there is no more deadly weapon than the knife. Fairbairn's rationale is in his book Get Tough! (1942). The vase handle grants precise grip, and the blade's design is especially suited to its use as a fighting knife. The F-S fighting knife was designed exclusively for surprise attack and fighting, with a slender blade that can easily penetrate a ribcage. Design įairbairn–Sykes fighting knife at Fort William Museum In December 2019, an SBS commando in Afghanistan used an F-S knife during an ambush by ISIL fighters. No formal specification existed until after the war, but the 1949 UK government specification E/1323E remains current. By the time of the third pattern of design refinements (dating from October 1943) it was being produced by multiple manufacturers. An order for 38,000 of the second pattern (slightly revised for wartime exigencies) followed in 1941. ġ500 knives of this first pattern were ordered in Nov 1940. The first batch of fifty F-S fighting knives were produced in January 1941 by Wilkinson Sword Ltd after Fairbairn and Sykes had travelled to their factory from the Special Training Centre at Lochailort in November 1940 to discuss their ideas for a fighting knife. A solid gold F-S fighting knife is part of the commandos' memorial at Westminster Abbey. Large numbers of Fairbairn Sykes knives of varying types, including some with wooden grips, were used by the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division that landed on Juno Beach on "D" Day and by the men of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion who jumped and fought on the same day.
It features in the insignia of the British Royal Marines, the Belgian Commandos, the Dutch Commando Corps, founded in the UK during World War II, and the Australian 1st Commando and 2nd Commando Regiments, and the United States Army Rangers, both founded with the help of the British Commandos. The F-S knife is strongly associated with the British commandos and the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and Marine Raiders (who based their issued knife on the Fairbairn-Sykes), among other special forces/clandestine/raiding units.