WW2 Theatre made Aluminium “Trench Art” Combat Knife marked Egypt 1942

Here on offer is an interesting WW2 theatre “trench art” combat knife made from aluminium recovered from downed aircraft during the conflict in North Africa, marked Egypt 1942.

I was told this was made by a RAF maintenance unit engineer while they were based at RAF Aboukir in Egypt during WW2.

In 1942, the Royal Air Force (RAF) operated several airfields in Egypt, playing a crucial role in the North African Campaign against Axis forces. Key RAF bases included Aboukir, Abu Sueir, Deversoir, El Amiriya, El Daba, Fayid, Ismailia, Kasfareet, Shallufa, and Shandur.
These bases were utilized for various purposes, including fighter and bomber operations, training, and maintenance.
RAF Aboukir was a major pre-war airfield and it continued to be an important RAF base in 1942.

The combat knife looks to have been made from one solid section of aluminium, as I can’t see any joins?

The 6.3” double edged combat blade shows signs of being crudely ground over a lot of the surfaces at some point. This is how it came to me, but I feel with some gentle sanding and polishing, it would return to a smooth polished finish.
Fortunately, it hasn’t been ground near the crossguard and the surfaces are still smooth and bright and on one side have been etched with gold paint, with:

1942
Egypt

The crossguard and pommel have been painted red and the grip is part exposed aluminium and part covered with a green resin type material? Clearly this was some kind of hard resin material they had in the workshops at the time. It now has a hairline crack running around the middle section, but ius still held firmly in place.

There was no scabbard/sheath with this knife.

It actually feels comfortable and balanced to hold albeit the grip is quite small.

The blade measures 6.3” (16cm) long and the knife is 10” (25.4cm) in total length.

It weighs 73g.

Please see my pictures for the details of the condition, which complement this description.

Please see my TERMS OF BUSINESS regarding Deliver Charges and Insurance regarding additional insurance cover, should you require it, BEFORE the item is dispatched.

The responsibility lies with the customer to check with your Customs restrictions that this item can be imported into your country.

Code: 51900