Where it says “Air Force handguns” I didn’t know the AF used anything but 4" K frames.....

I read that article on Air Force revolvers, and it was good.  It was written by Leroy Thompson, who I've been reading since the 1980s.  Thompson was in the Combat Security Police in Vietnam, where was an officer.  He knows more about the Air Force and SPs than most "gunriters."  He talks about the SP's Model 15s, but also the M&Ps used previously, and also the Aircrewman, which was an aluminum, small-frame model purchased for pilots and crew members. 

I never knew that when the bid was let--no wrong word--requirements were released, in 1950, that, there were three different handguns tested by the Air Force.  One was a Colt D-frame, one a S&W K-frame, and one the S&W J-frame.  These all had aluminum frames and cylinders.  The concept at the time was that weight savings trumped longevity, but they crapped out even sooner than expected, and it is rare to see one today.  The cylinders were made out of steel after a short time. 

As to why the SPs were issued Model 15s for so long starting in the early 60s and running up through about 1992, instead of the Model 10s that had been used for a few years in between the M1911A1 and the 15s, Thompson attributes this to Curtis Lemay, head of the Air Force at the time.  Lemay was a gun guy, and SP qualifications were poor at the time.  When the switch was made to M15s, scores went up.  He also discusses which M15 change numbers the Air Force purchased (the civilian model I have for nostalgia purposes is one of the same change numbers purchased by the USAF), and he even confirms that while all M15s were purchased blued, the USAF themselves later on in the lives of those guns did Parkerize some of them.  As I've mentioned, our squadron at NORAD received a newly Parkerized batch to replace our old blued models in 1979 or 1980.

Thompson also describes the switch and the specs of the standard ball load to the ball load I used in my day, which, in the civilian world, would have been called +P.  It was clearly a very hot .38 Special load. 

Good article.  I'm glad one or two of the good older gun writers are still working.