The images and the entire text used on this and all other USMBOOKS web pages are the copyrighted property of USM Inc.  Those images and the text may be used by others ONLY AFTER completion of a formal international licensing agreement and payment of a licensing fee! It is therefore, illegal for anyone to take any of the material found on USMBOOKS.com and use it for their own purposes without our written permission, irrespective of any excuse they may feel they have for doing so.

This is a Wehrmacht issued gravity knife that actually saw service with a German pilot, aircrew member or paratrooper during World War II. It is NOT a New-Old-Stock unissued piece. The knife is a standard Wehrmacht issue Fallschirmjäger / Flieger (paratrooper / pilot / aircrew member) single-hand SMF brand Kappmesser (chopping knife) showing evidence that it was used.

For some reason many collectors refer to this type of knife as a "paratrooper gravity knife" but as the picture shown here from the 21 June 1944 issue of Die Wehrmacht magazine shows, these Kappmesser were carried in the left hip zipper pocket of every pilot's Kanalhose or "Channel pants" as well as aircraft crew members as an emergency tool.

These knives were issued to and carried by pilots, aircrews, and paratroopers in the German Armed Forces so that they could cut or chop themselves out of perilous circumstances in combat, such as becoming entangled in parachute shroud lines, etc. As carried in the uniform pocket the 10-1/2 ounce knife was 6 inches long, 1-1/2 inches wide and about 1 inch thick with the blade retracted. With the blade and spike fully extended it was 13-3/4 inches long. The spike on this SMF knife has a Luftwaffe acceptance stamp on it and the blade is well-marked with the SMF SOLINGEN ROSTFREI logo.

Unfortunately, the tip of the original blade of this knife was broken off an inch back from the point. The remaining 3 inches of the original blade was reshaped and resharpened either by the original German owner, or by the GI that brought the knife home as a war souvenir.

Because the tip of the blade is broken off we are selling this 100% original German gravity knife for use as-is on a display mannequin, or in the hope that somebody can repair it. We know that someone somewhere has the ability to add a new end to the blade of this knife so that it looks like it did originally and so that it would function as it originally did.

This is a genuine, honest combat veteran knife of a Nazi pilot / paratrooper that has not been cleaned up or messed with beyond what you see in our pictures. It is in good to better condition except for the broken blade. Nice original walnut grips.