This is a rare example of one of the 500 Model 1911A1 Pistols manufactured by the Singer Manufacturing Company during WWII under the Ordnance Educational Order No. W-ORD-396. Under this contract there were only 500 pistols produced in total by the Singer Manufacturing Company. It has been theorized that almost all of these pistols were issued to the U.S. Army Air Corps, and with the very low total number produced, examples are very scarce. The left side of the slide is marked in two lines ahead of the slide serrations as follows: "S. MFG.CO./ELIZABETH, N.J., U.S.A.", with no markings to the right side of the slide. The top of the slide is stamped with a single "P" proof mark and is correctly stamped with the pistol serial number under the firing pin, retaining plate. The left side of the frame is stamped with the "JKC" initials of Col. John K. Clement, the Executive Officer of the New York Ordnance District. A "P" proof mark is stamped on the left side of the frame immediately above the magazine release. The right side of the frame is stamped "UNITED STATES PROPERTY/No S800338" in two lines, with "M 1911 A1 U.S.ARMY" above and forward of the slide stop pin hole. The pistol has the wide spur hammer with borderless checkering, with the checkered thumb safety, slide stop, trigger and main spring housing. The grips are the correct early pattern for a Singer pistol as they are without the reinforcing rings around the grip screw bushings, they lack the reinforcing internal ribs and have no mold markings on the back side of each grip. The correct Singer all blued barrel is stamped with only a single larger "P" proof on rear left side of the lug with no other proof marks. The pistol has a replacement all blued magazine with the large/thicker bottom floor plate, that is crimped in two places on each side of the base plate, with no markings anywhere. (not Singer production) For a true .45 Auto collector, this is the holy grail of all U.S. Model 1911A1 WWII pistols. In our 2004 April Premiere auction we sold Singer serial Number S800336, which is only 2 numbers before this gun and that was identified to its original owner Lieutenant W. Calvin Clippinger. Lieutenant Clippinger was issued his Singer pistol while serving as Armament officer of the 12th Transport Squadron at Westover Field Massachusetts. His pistol was taken directly from a crate of New Singer M1911A1 pistols issued to that Squadron. Clippinger had flew into Elizabeth, NJ and picked up 50 Singers in a crate and took them back to be distributed to his group. There is a high probability that with this pistol only being 2 serial numbers apart was in that same shipment of Singer's picked up by Clippinger and distributed to the 12th Transport Squadron.