Original Item: Only One Available. Now it does not get better than this! This Fairbairn Sykes copy, known affectionately as the “Pancake Flipper,” is a rare knife produced between 1942–1943 and was believed to be manufactured by Landers, Frary, and Clark in New Britain, CT. There are no maker marks or any stamping on this knife which was logical to a clandestine weapon such as this. The stiletto was designed for members of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), the American version of the British Special Operations Executive or SOE, operating deep in enemy territory, far from friendly lines.

This rare fighting knife, with its equally rare M-6 sheath, shows signs of little to no use and the blade retains nearly 100 percent of the original finish. The "pancake flipper" frog for the M-6 sheath is still in original configuration and has not been cut down like other examples we have seen. I don't believe you could ever find a nicer example than this one! The knurled brass grip retains 99% of its original blackening, with some light wear to the pommel area revealing some bare brass. The brass grommet holding the leather sheath to the frog is present but no longer holds the two together tightly. The leather is in excellent condition as well as the frog. The OD green paint on the frog still covers about 98% of the metal, with some wear in certain spots like through the belt loops.

This knife came to us with a tag from 1987 on it that explains what it is but also states where it came from. The knife was purchased at the estate sale of Brigadier General Donald C. Clayman in Virginia Beach, Virginia, for a grand total of $25.00 in 1987! Now General Clayman was no desk jockey during the war and he had a rather prestigious career. He fought across Europe during World War II and served also in Korea. He was wounded 11 times in World War II, eight times by small arms fire, three times by artillery fire. At one point he commanded the 346th Regiment of the 87th “Golden Acorn” Infantry Division.

Clayman was awarded 11 Purple Hearts, the Distinguished Service Cross, Bronze and Silver Stars, the French Croix de Guerre and Legion of Honor.

In 1944, while still with the 9th Infantry Division, he led his battalion across the Cherbourg peninsula, according to a 1975 story in the Golden Acorn News (a newsletter of the 87th Infantry), “cutting off great numbers of Germans who were later forced to surrender.” He is quoted in several Democrat and Chronicle and Times-Union news stories from the war years, and typically credits others with the real acts of heroism. A July 1944 story reported that Clayman had been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry. “I assure you it was nothing I did,” he wrote in a letter home. “The men of the battalion have been marvelous. Many times I have given them orders that seemed sure to entail certain death, but never once did one man hesitate.”

When Clayman took command of the 346th in late January 1945, the company command post was in St. Vith, Belgium, “The Germans were drawn up along a strong defensive line immediately east of the town,” according to the Golden Acorn News. “With enemy artillery bursting through St. Vith, Colonel Clayman completed plans for an end run play” that required a 25-mile truck march in subzero weather to attack a pair of well-defended supply towns on the Our River.

Clayman accompanied the 1st Battalion during an attack on the town of Schonberg.

“While advancing from house to house with the leading elements of the battalion an enemy machine gunner wounded him in the left hand and hip,” said the Golden Acorn News. “He continued to direct the attack for several hours before he would allow himself to be evacuated for medical attention.”

After the Korean War, Clayman worked for a period at the Pentagon and then became a professor of military science at Manlius Academy, near Syracuse.

Now we have no way of proving this was his or how he came to have it as we cannot find anything linking him to the OSS.

This is a must have in any serious collector’s inventory, so let’s give this stiletto one last clandestine operation to find it’s way into your showcase!

Dimensions:
Blade length: 6 5/8”
Blade Style: Spear Point Knife
Overall length: 11 3/8”
Crossguard: 2 1/8”
Scabbard length: 7 1/4" with metal belt loop.

Some of the most iconic fighting knives in history have had their beginnings, and in America we can say that the Bowie knife is likely the most influential knife design of the 19th Century, giving the Fairbairn-Sykes Knife that same title in the 20th Century. The United Kingdom in general has sadly held a very negative view of knives and this was very evident during World War Two with the introduction of the Fairbairn Sykes Fighting Knife. There are many first hand accounts of commanding officers flat out refusing to issue the Fairbairn Sykes ‘Fighting’ knife, seeing it as ‘ungentlemanly’ and in some way linked to thuggery. Fortunately this was not the case in the US. With their long history of self-sufficiency and independence, Americans have long embraced the knife in all its forms and rightly so. During WWII there were lots of ‘drives’ for all manner of much needed goods to support the war effort and in America this included ‘knives for the troops’, something that would have been unheard of in Britain.

The OSS stiletto was a double-edged knife based on the Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife. It was so admired that the US military created several other fighting knives based on it. The US Office of Strategic Services's knife manufacturing bid was approximately one-fifteenth of the British equivalent, but the US version of the knife, manufactured by Landers, Frary & Clark, of New Britain, Connecticut, was improperly tempered and inferior to the British F-S fighting knife in materials and workmanship. Its reputation suffered accordingly. A total of 20,000 units of the OSS version were produced. The OSS dagger was officially replaced in service in 1944 by the US M3 fighting knife. The scabbard for the OSS stiletto looks like a pancake spatula, a design that can be worn high or low on the belt, or angled either left or right. In theory this gave a very adaptable mounting system, but the sheet metal was like a knife itself, risking injury to those wielding it, especially parachutists during airborne operations.

A number of very fine Fairbairn Sykes inspired fighting knives were produced in the US during WWII by such noted cutlery makers as Camillus and Case.