I saw this and went into my wayback machine.
I was the squadron "gun guy" back in the late 70s and 80s and was always thinking about the perfect pilot's weapon. Mine was my Armoloyed (a type of hard chrome finish of the day) 1911, salt water being an issue you see. This being post Vietnam era, all the old heads (who must have been over 30!) had some interesting stories and theories about personally carried firearms.
The general consensus was that a second survival radio was worth a lot more than a pistol. You couldn't have shot your way out of North Vietnam and the PRCs of the day were less than perfectly reliable. Since we were so short of gear in that era I couldn't get issued a second battery for my radio much less a second radio, I decided to keep the pistol. (Visited an Air Force F-106 outfit and they had 3 radios per pilot!) We were told that if a hot war had come up all that stuff would show up pretty quick. Probably true but less than comforting.
One sea story from a rescue helo driver recounted how a pilot kept himself from being nabbed at the last second by a couple of farmers armed with machetes or such with a High Standard derringer (I think in .22 mag).
During a port call in Haifa we visited an Israeli F-16 outfit. I had to ask them what kind of gun they carried of course. I heard a .22 Beretta 70. Theory being, you weren't going to shoot your way out of the Bekka valley and a quiet .22 might help as a threat or sentry eliminator.
Things change and the radios today are reliable and have a built in GPS to say "here I am" with great precision. I'm sure the Air Force dudes still have 3 of them too. Still, you're not going to shoot your way out of Afghanistan either but there is another factor that comes into play. I really don't think being taken alive would be an option, so, take a few with you?
Last edited by 314159; 05-25-2019 at 07:40 AM.