Luftwaffe Fighting Knife

[ugafx4]

I bought this the other day, I think it is a Luftwaffe fighting knife? Anyone know for sure? Also, is it real?

Thanks!

[Steve87]

It looks good to me, 'S' and 'W' are both known makers, I think I see the S on the blade. Condition looks great also, I would be very happy to find that on the loose somewhere. Has the blade been sharpened? I don't see any issues from these photos.

Cheers,
-Steve

[Hambone]

As Steve said, and the same as the LZA5 and LZA6 Luft versions which were issued. These may have been private purchase. It looks nice.

[ugafx4]

Unfortunately the blade has been sharpened a little. It was at a gunshop and they had no idea if it was real or not. To my benefit they guessed wrong I looked at it, left the shop and did some research at lunch. Stayed on the brain so I drove back and bought it. Glad I did it is pretty neat.

What really threw me off is how large it is. I have seen a lot of the smaller boot knives but never one of these. It is a lot bigger than the boot knives. I should have thrown a pistol in the photos as reference.

[GetFuzzy2]

Very nice blade, I had the same blade but with the Luftwaffe 5 on it. I no longer have it since I gave it to a friend as a coming home gift from his second Deployment to Iraq. Take a picture of it next to a pistol.

[ugafx4]

Terrible photo but it's just a size reference.

Approximately same size as an M3 fighting knife.

[gunnertwo]

Nice find, I'd be very happy with that.

G2

[Steve87]

These are popular with collectors because of this famous picture from the ambush at Poteau, in the Ardennes 1944.

As you can see, it was not just Luftwaffe who liked these knives. The one in the photo is the same type.

The sharpened blade will hurt the value a bit, but if you found it cheap at a gun store I'm sure you did well.

Cheers,
-Steve

[Hambone]

Terrible photo but it's just a size reference.

Approximately same size as an M3 fighting knife.

The M3 was superior IMHO. I like these kampfmesser more than the M3 for collecting, but as knives go the M3 was better.

[ugafx4]

I need to find one of the smaller German boot knives. Maybe at SoS.

Here are my other fighting knives.... I would definitely grab the Mk3 if I needed a fighting knife.