Of the five companies that made 1911 pistols during World War Two, Union Switch & Signal was the last to be awarded a contract and the smallest mass production producer. A subsidiary of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, US&S produced a variety of ordnance material during the war (and during World War One as well). They received a contract for 200,000 M1911A1 pistols on May 5, 1942, which was subsequently reduced to 30,000 in March 1943 and then upped to 55,000 in June 1943. Those 55,000 pistols were delivered between January and October 1943 and had an excellent reputation for quality.
Union Switch & Signal actually only produced eleven parts for the 1911 plus frames, with the balance of the components subcontracted (mostly to Yawman Metal Products of Rochester NY). Their serial number block was 1041405 – 1096404.
In my opinion the wording “only … plus frames” is a little misleading. Looking at frame engineering drawings (publicly available through the McCracken Library of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West), I think mastering this part is really an achievement. In particular when the result “had an excellent reputation for quality”.
I wonder if artillery collectors get as excited about finding a Union Switch mortar fuse as 1911 nerds do. I bet they do.
Could be. Though James Jones’ ‘The Pistol’ is a paen to the mystique of the handgun that is hard to imagine can be equaled by a mortar fuse. Set on Guadalcanal during the fighting it gets pretty deeply into what a pistol can represent under dangerous conditions. The difference between a knight’s sword snd a bowstring comes to mind. Still collectors are collectors.