Gunner rifles

[Elvis]

Too late for WWII, but I remember people saying the S&W "Airweight" .38 snubbie was originally designed to be carried by fighter pilots because they were lighter and more compact than a .45 but still fired an effective round.


Elvis

 

[special ed]

He was with the first arrivals of the 19th to Australia. They were also the first troops on the newly converted Queen Mary as a troopship. There were 6 men to a room originally for 2. He showed me the room number plate from the door. Because the ship was considered too fast to intercept by submarine, they had no escort and did not zigzag.

 

[Elvis]

Once captured ?

However the US issued full jacket .38 special rounds,
from wiki;

During World War II, some U.S. aircrew (primarily Navy and Marine Corps) were issued .38 Special S&W Victory revolvers as sidearms in the event of a forced landing. In May 1943, a new .38 Special cartridge with a 158 grains (10.2 g), full-steel-jacketed, copper flash-coated bullet meeting the requirements of the rules of land warfare was developed at Springfield Armory and adopted for the Smith & Wesson revolvers.[17] The new military .38 Special loading propelled its 158 grains (10.2 g) bullet at a standard 850 ft/s (260 m/s) from a 4-inch (100 mm) revolver barrel.[17]

there were earlier full metal jacket civilian loadings.

Those civilian loads used 130gr. bullet. I remember Remington still offering that load when I was kid in the early 70's.
So there were two versions of the Victory revolver?
How confusing...and made even more so when you realize the .38/200 round that the Enfield #2 (and the Lend-Lease Victory guns) was chambered for is based on the .38 S&W, not the .38 S&W Special (.361 bullet vs. .356 bullet), yet the Navy got the Special round.
...logistics nightmare!


Elvis

 

[GrauGeist]

I recall a family friend (WWII USMC Corsair pilot) still had his issued 4" .38 Colt Commando revolver.