Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife - First Pattern.

The demand for a good fighting knife was so very urgent that a meeting was arranged in November 1940 between W. E. Fairbairn, E. A. Sykes and Jack Wilkinson Latham at Wilkinson Sword Company.

Fairbairn and Sykes described the type of knife they envisioned and the purpose for which it was intended. As discussion continued, preliminary sketches were drawn up and modified time and time again.

- As Robert Wilkinson Latham tells it: 'In order to explain exactly their point, the two men rose to their feet and one, it was Fairbairn my grandfather mentioned, grabbed the wood ruler from his desk and the two men danced around the office in mock combat'.

• The new Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting knife is best described as a new composition.
• The blade is double edged and has the shape of a double edged dagger
  and the handle resembles the grip of the old rapiers.
• The shape of the grip reminds us about a Coca cola bottle.

There is plenty of pure guesswork on internet about what happened to the first knives. I hope to spread some more light about what really happened by quoting Robert Wilkinson Latham with his own words:

“To my knowledge the first knife after the meeting with my grandfather was made up by Charlie Rose, Wilkinsons top development/experimental engineer, possibly “tweeked” a little, shown to F and S again and that was that. That knife was modified in line with the tweeking, taken apart and given to the tool makers and the bits scrapped. (metal was scarce then). I got this first hand from Charlie Rose when I worked for him as a craft apprentice at Wilkinsons in his department in 1962. It was he who gave me the Wilkinson 1942 FS drawing, plus drawings of the No5 bayonet and the drawings and examples of experimental bayonets that later evolved into the No7 plus notes of meetings etc with people from CISA department.

 Any knives given to Fairbairn and Sykes were production models and I know that a small number of production knives were made available to Fairbairn to give away in the US (Also in the Wilkinson wartime newsletter there is a piece on a Commando coming to talk to the social club members and as he had lost his knife on a raid, he was given another.”

One of the first tools in human history.

Already during the ice age the knife was a vital part of human equipment for survival. The knives at that time were made by parts of bones, which had been sharpened. These men hunted animals to have protein. They had no possibility to stay in one place long enough to grow crops to eat. These people were nomads. Protein was essential for there survival. They used their knives for slaughtering and cutting the captured animals. For this reason the knife was an essential tool for survival. It was one of the very first tools used by men in the history of human beings. This happened some 20 000 years ago. Later on knives were made from different types of stone like flint, copper, brass, iron and at last steel.

 The knife or dagger is also one of the oldest weapons in the world and it is most likely impossible to make  inventions any more. The unique feature of the F-S Fighting knife was the composition and the perfect balance.

 For sure Fairbairn-Sykes brought with them some specific ideas how they wanted a true fighting knife to look like. Jack Wilkinson Latham had a tremendously experience of different types of knives. In the archives of Wilkinson Sword a drawing has been found with his stamp and double dates on. One date is 4th of November 1940 – the same date as they met. The other date goes back to March 1931 - Years before the Shanghai knives.

 The design of the F-S resembles a classic dagger design which was common in Europe for hundreds of years.

When we admit that the unique feature of the F-S Fighting knife was the composition and the perfect balance, we perhaps have to look for a forth man who contributed to this feature -
 Captain (later Colonel) Leslie Wood R.E. was a key figure in SOE, the Commandos and others. He remembered:

‘… I helped to get Fairbairn and Sykes over to us from the Shanghai Riot Police … I was responsible for getting the well known “Fighting Knife” made and I seem to remember that I slightly altered the balance to ensure that they could be tossed from hand to hand without visual assistance. I expect Fairbairn and Sykes helped with this.’

We have to remember that there was a war going on and the British needed to encourage the public opinion in every possible way. The Commando units were an invention by Winston Churchill. A special knife for these Commandos was a strong contribution to the propaganda war.

The design of the F-S resembles a classic dagger design which was common in Europe for hundreds of years.
Here is beautiful dagger ("Lady knife") which was made in England around 1870.

Private collection