Darwinism in the Knife Field
The Jet Pilots Knife
By Frank Trzaska
In his controversial book, On the Origin of Species (1859), Charles Darwin established evolution by common descent as the dominant scientific explanation for the diversification in nature. Many years ago I found a specification that provided the differences between what was then thought to be a Mark 1 variation and what I termed the Pilots Survival Knife. That government spec along with a few Camillus specification cards from historian Tom Williams provided the family tree of the MIL-K 8662 knife. Not unlike Darwin’s theory dictates, this knife has “evolved” as it has changed specifications quite a bit over the years.
This article first appeared in the October 2020 issue of Knife Magazine. Premium Online Members can read the whole thing by clicking the blue box below.