Patton 1911

The USAF provided at least some of its Generals with S&W M39s.
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The story I heard was that USAF (while under General Le May) was the main driving forces behind S&W developing the 9mm for the military. Never were enough model 39's, so the AF issued 38 spe. M&Ps revolvers to the ground troops, and models 39's to aircrews. The first run (maybe 500) were all steel, and (never issued to the aircrew) , were pretty good autos. The second run had the alloy frame, and were issued the aircrews, and were a POS...:)
 
There's been some debate whether the gun shown here was a 1911 or 1908.

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JohnMoses said:
The Peacemaker and RM are on display at the Patton museum, right down the road from Fort Knox. If you are in the area, it's worth a visit. I don't recall the 1908, but it was a while ago.
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Don't forget the other, much smaller (but still great) Patton Museum out at Chiriaco Summit, CA on I-10! Just a few shots from my last visit out there...

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The gun shown here is a revolver. A Smith, I think. There was something about it in one of the biographies I read long ago. Second Armoured Div. training exercise just before the U.S. joined us in the WAR.
Georgie was an Olympic class shooter(Modern pentathlon. 1912. Used a .38.). Carried what he felt like carrying. Generals can do that.
The scowl in official photographs was self-developed for his image. Georgie was a bit nuts.
"...German general showing up in one..." Artistic licence.
 
Patton's 1911 BEFORE he was a General

When he was stationed near El Paso before the Pancho Villa raid on Columbus, NM that caused the 1916 fracas, Patton and his wife attended a party in the town near his post. Patton thrust his issue 1911 Colt into the front of his pants, obviously cocked and hopefully locked. But if originally locked it did not stay locked. The gun fired nearly wrecking the family jewels. He brazened it out for the rest of the party, but never trusted 1911s again.

This is in his biography by Carlo d'Este, who had access to all his letters and documents, as well as his family's recollections.

Caveat: This is second hand to me. If anyone wants to research the biography, there it is. I have no reason to doubt the quote.

Lost Sheep
 
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Interesting how the 1911, cocked and obviously not locked, could still go off since you need to pull the trigger and depress the grip safety. Must have had his finger on the trigger and depressing the grip safety with the web of his hand as he pushed it into his pocket?
 
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Left: Patton and his M3 Stuart at the Desert Training Center, CA -1942 w/ (Football) Helmet and M1938 Resistal Goggles and his Colt.45. Right: Patton Tanker helmet with Polaroid 1021 goggles and 1911 gun; (Note the slide locked to the rear) . Photo LIFE. Patton also used a B-3 style leather sheepskin bomber jacket. The tank soldiers also used flexible rubber Polaroid M44 goggles and rubber US Pioneer Scientific goggles.

Source: http://www.militariarg.com/us-military-vehicles-tanks-and-artillery.html
 
The above right hand photo does shows Patton 's holstered Woodsman. The slide is in it's normal position. The caption is in error.
 
Judging by the holster, the gun is a "bullseye" Woodsman. The stocks appear to be some variation of the "elephant's ear" but not that exact style, maybe custom.

Jim
 
Not to get too far afield, but I was snooping around an M3 Stuart in a war memorial in my mom's hometown, last weekend. Only brave men could go in harm's way in such a contraption.
 
Is that Colt one that required standard velocity ammunition?

Does anyone remember reading anything about Patton's having had a Woodsman?
 
"There are documented General Officer's Model pistols in both .32 and .380."

Did not know that. Neat!

"Does anyone remember reading anything about Patton's having had a Woodsman?"

You'll find some information on it at one of the sites about Patton and his guns if you do a google search.

"Is that Colt one that required standard velocity ammunition?"

Of that time frame? I'm thinking that there wasn't really any high velocity ammo for .22 yet like there was starting in the 1950s/60s, so I'd say yes.
 
I'm sure the general had many handguns. The two I'm interested in are the ones he wore in Europe. As I said earlier, I always heard he carried two handguns, in Europe. One was the 1873 SAA and the other was the S&W .357.

If, in fact, he carried the two guns mentioned above throughout the European Theater of Ops then the movie is incorrect if, in fact, some of you are correct saying the gun he uses in the movie to shoot at the fighters is a 1908 Colt and not a 1911. To me, it looks like a 1908. It's just not beefy enough to be a 1911 and it certainly isn't a S&W .357 revolver.
 
Just as a side note, I went to You Tube to see if I could find the scene where he shoots at the fighters but I could not find it. I did see clip of a speech he gave hailing the Third Army in Europe. He is speaking with his spiffy shiny helmet liner wich has 5 stars on it. His jacket has four. Under the title, Patton talks about the excellent job done by the Third Army.
 
Posted by Pogybait:
If, in fact, he carried the two guns mentioned above throughout the European Theater of Ops then the movie is incorrect if, in fact, some of you are correct saying the gun he uses in the movie to shoot at the fighters is a 1908 Colt and not a 1911. To me, it looks like a 1908. It's just not beefy enough to be a 1911 and it certainly isn't a S&W .357 revolver.
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The movie may well be incorrect.

Patton is well known to have carried both a Colt SAA in .45 ACP and a 3 1/2 inch Registered Magnum though out the war in Africa and afterwards; those guns are shown in many photographs.

He certainly did not wear them indoors all the time.

He would certainly have been issued a General Officer' Model Pistol, also. Whether it was a .32 or .380 is not clear.

He is also reported to have carried a Remington Model 51, and several reports assert that it was with the Remington that he fired at a strafing Luftwaffe airplane.

The planes shown in the movie were Spanish-built He-111 bombers with Rolls -Royce engines. Some reports refer to Patton's having shot at a fighter.
 
Sorry if this is a bit off topic, but curious if anyone can recommend a good biography on Patton. He’s obviously an interesting and somewhat controversial figure, so it might be enjoyable to read a little more in-depth about him. I’d really prefer something in a more reasonable 300 – 400 page length as opposed to one of those 800 page tomes that seem to be all the rage with biographers.
 
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