ottis said:
My dads 1st cousin was a pilot in the China Burma theater...
Just out of sheer curiousity—no gun-related reason—was he a military pilot, or a civil airline pilot flying with the USAAF Air Transport Command (ATC)? Most U.S. air missions in the CBI Theater were conducted to resupply isolated pockets of British ground forces that could not be resupplied by sea due to Japanese naval control of the eastern Indian Ocean, and could not be feasibly resupplied by land due to the inhospitable jungle terrain which turned into a quagmire in the rainy season. [EDIT: Other missions were conducted to supply friendly forces in China.]
Many of the resupply missions [EDIT: to China] were flown across the Himalayas by American civil airline pilots under the auspices of the ATC, and the early-war lack of suitable high-altitude-capable transport aircraft forced many of the missions to be flown by delicately threading C-47s (DC-3s) through mountain valleys, with minimal instrumentation, no accurate weather forecasts, and no electronic navigation aids – real hero stuff.
There are stories of crashed air crews literally taking WEEKS to walk out, often after being given up for dead.
As with some other wartime pilots (combat glider crews being another good example), IMHO these guys don't get nearly the credit they deserve for the dangerous missions they flew, simply because their missions weren't very glamorous.
Historical diversion aside...
Kosh75287 said:
Y'might not wanna go around advertising that the original stocks (grips) are ivory.
There is, however, a very real possibility that they are fake. Phony ivory items are VERY common, and folks often discount this possibility with sentimental items – "Grandma would have known" is not necessarily true, as she could have been hoodwinked in 1947.
Suggest performing the "pin test" if any doubt exists. Remove the grip panels to expose the back sides. Using needlenose pliers and a torch, heat a pin until red hot, and delicately touch each panel with it. Real ivory is basically impervious to heat, and the pin will not penetrate. OTOH if the pin goes in like a hot knife through butter, the grips are plastic.