Royal Air Force bugs and butter knife

[robinpeck]

A few decades back, I bought this knife in a thrift store for a few cents because it had a huge serial number stamped on the handle which made me think it came out of the nearby prison back in the day when prisoners were allowed to use metal knives (except for the fact that there probably never was a day like that)...anyway, I kept it and have used it as a butter knife in the kitchen ever since. But only recently I noticed faint marks on the blade. On one side is the manufacturer's info (Sheffield Stainless, etc.) and on the other side is the King's Crown (so, pre-dating Queen Elizabeth II) over an "AM"...which means "Air Ministry. So, it is a British Royal Air Force knife. I figured it was a butter knife that came out of an RAF mess. I posted a few pictures of it on a "Militaria" site and a guy replied that it is not a "butter knife," not actually a knife at all, but a scraper, a WWII Royal Air Force tool used to scrape bugs off Lancaster Bomber windscreens. Why a Lancaster, I do not know. But that might explain why it has such a huge heavily stamped serial number. The giant serial number always seemed like overkill on a simple RAF mess knife. Anyone have actual knowledge about what it is?

 

[shane45-1911]

a guy replied that it is not a "butter knife," not actually a knife at all, but a scraper, a WWII Royal Air Force tool used to scrape bugs off Lancaster Bomber windscreens.

That actually makes sense. While I know nothing about this item, it is a cool piece of history, whatever it is.

Why don't you contact Sheffield Knives (link below)? I'm sure they could shed some light on this. Let us know!

Sheffield Knives Contact Us

sheffieldknives.co.uk

 

[robinpeck]

I again think its just a butter knife. From an RAF mess. Maybe it was used a few times to scrape some bugs off the windscreens of a Lancaster, or a Hurricane, or even a Spitfire...or just used to spread butter on toast. The huge British serial number should really have been no surprise to me, as I am familiar with Lee-Enfield rifles and their endlessly numbered series of models and marks and etc.

 

[gazz98]

It could be a locker combination to a footlocker of gold? The extra digit is there to throw you off!

I thought it might be some combination of : date manufactured (month, day, year in whatever order), where it was manufactured (again might be a 1, 2, or 3 numeral code), plus a serial number?

But even tho the Lancaster started in the 30s, that would mean the 38 would make sense for 1938 but the date would probably be xx-xx-38 so that doesn't make sense either.

Maybe https://www.bladeforums.com/forums/bernard-levines-knife-collecting-identification.691/?