Lieutenant Colonel William Ewart Fairbairn was a British soldier and police officer. He developed hand-to-hand combat methods for the Shanghai Police during the interwar period, as well as for the Allied special forces during World War II. He created his own fighting system known as Defendu. Notably, this included innovative pistol shooting techniques and the development of the Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife.
Fairbairn in 1942
OSS Schools and Training Headquarters Staff, 1945 XMAS Card LTC Fairbairn second from the left in third row.
Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife
The Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife is a double-edged fighting knife resembling a dagger or poignard with a foil grip. It was developed by William Ewart Fairbairn and Eric Anthony Sykes in Shanghai based on ideas that the two men had while serving on the Shanghai Municipal Police in China before World War II.
F-S fighting knife – ring grip pattern
Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife at Fort William Museum
OSS knife and its distinctive scabbard (Collection of the CIA Museum)
Member of the Cambodian 911 ParaCommando on USS Essex with a F-S commando dagger on his webbing belt.