RFC/RAF SIDEARM

The British contracted with Colt for 1500 (is that number correct?) 1911 autos in .455. What was the date of this contract? Did all these go to the RFC or RAF? Does anyone know what the holster for these weapons looks like?

Thanks,
Steve

Steve,

I have one of those Pistols, it is at my father-in-laws house right now. But from research done on it, we figured it our that it belonged to an RAF Pilot who BOUGHT it, because he was not around when everybody else were issued these sidearms for free.

Apparently it was of significant prestige to own one of these pistols in the RAF at the time. My guess from this info is that they were issued to RFC pilots about 6 months - 1 year before the formation of the RAF.

Steve, I can find references to the cartridge, which was called the ".455 Webley self-loading" but Haven and Beldon do not mention the Colt contract.In 1960, I obtained a Model 1911A1 in .455 that had a phosphateized finish and was stamped "not English Make." It was a Colt. All of the original pistols would have been Colt mfg. 19ll's and had a blued finish. Could well be that the pistol I had was an original .45 acp with barrel and magazine from one of the older pistols.
There is a writeup on the .455 Webley s.l. cartridge in "Textbook of Automatic Pistols" by Wilson. Even Hatcher's Notebook does not cover these original .455's. At least now you know where NOT to look for answers!