Knife Of The Week Model 15

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Two U.S. Marine Corps officers attached to the Marine Corps Equipment Board at Quantico, Virginia, read and reread the True Magazine article with a real professional interest. To Lt. Col. H. Ross Jordan and Maj. Harold N. "Tex" Mehaffey, both pilots with long combat records, the information about Bo Randall and his ability to design and produce top-quality knives was the answer to their quest for a first-class survival knife.

Experience in World War II and the Korean War had convinced them that pilot and other air crewmen of all services needed a really first-rate survival knife tailored to the unique requirements of fliers. Talking it over, they decided that this guy in Orlando was the one who could supply answers to their questions and that they had best get in touch with him right away.

[In their initial correspondence they asked for Bo's assistance and began to discuss the needed features.]

First, it could be no more than 10 inches in overall length and must have a sheath capable of being worn on the leg or upper arm. Second, and most important, it had to be extremely strong -- strong enough to pry open a stuck canopy or aircraft hatch....

[It wasn't long before the two military men were flying to Orlando to meet with Bo.]

Then it was on to Bo's den for some serious, detailed discussion about the design of this survival knife to be made especially for American airmen. The strength requirement had been stressed in their previous letter, but the marines reiterated the point. Their knife should be strong enough to pry open a stuck canopy so that the pilot could exit rapidly from the aircraft after a sudden and unscheduled landing. If that didn't work, it then had to be capable of smashing Plexiglass or chopping and cutting through the aluminum aircraft skin. After the pilot was out, this prybar had to become his all-around survival knife. And it could be no more than 10 inches in overall length! On top of all that, the design must be able to be produced in large quantities and made standard issue.

Bo had given considerable thought to the problem of strength and had come up with a plan, which would also lend itself well to mass production. He began to sketch out his idea on paper. Starting with the general lines of his well-proven Model Number 1 Fighter, he shortened the blade and made it wider. He also changed the grind lines some so as to leave the maximum amount of full 1/4-inch-thick steel in his prybar of a blade. But the breaking point of most knives, when used as a prying tool, was the thin tang through the handle. They usually broke or bent right at the hilt. This new Randall would therefore have a very wide tang of full 1/4-inch-blade-stock thickness and would extend completely through the handle, thus achieving maximum strength from tip to butt....

...Because an airman would probably be wearing thick gloves while prying, smashing, or cutting with this knife, it needed a hilt and handle adapted for such use. The double-guard hilt was made larger than the Model Number 1 Fighter's, so that a gloved hand wouldn't have any chance of slipping up onto the sharp edge....

They addressed the handle shape, attachment, and method of fabrication from a number of perspectives. Foremost in their thoughts was the vision of a very excited airman using this survival tool with gloved hands. He must be given the firmest possible grip. It was also apparent that the big, strong tang would make the handle walls considerably thinner than those of the regular Randall line. Bo suggested using finger grips shaped into the handle, similar to those ground into some of his stag handles as an extra feature....

The final touch to their brainstorming and sketching session concerned the butt end. They let the tang protrude through the handle sleeve, rounded it off, and presto--a fine Plexiglass smasher right there on the handle's end. A hole in this tang extension allowed for a wrist thong, if the user desired.

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