This U.S. Contract Colt Model 1911 was assembled by Colt as part of the first 40 M1911 pistols on the first day of production December 28, 1911. This pistol was purchased by Lieutenant Douglas B. Netherwood, Coast Artillery Corps, in July 1912. The sale was made through the Office of the Chief of Ordnance. Netherwood was the third Army officer to purchase a U.S. M1911 pistol. This pistol has all of the highly desirable features associated with the very first U.S. Contract M1911 pistols manufactured by Colt. The slide and frame have the high polish Colt blue finish. The trigger, slide stop, safety lock, hammer, rear sight, magazine catch lock and stock screws have a fiery niter blue finish. The left side of the frame is roll-stamped with the large "UNITED STATES PROPERTY" marking that was eliminated about serial number 113. The left side of the slide is roll stamped with the first style legend that utilized small characters for the patent markings. This legend was replaced starting with pistol serial number 83 on January 12, 1912, by a marking with identical size characters for both the address and patent dates. The slide stop and safety stop have the hand-checkering used until approximately serial number 150. The pistol has the "dimpled" magazine lock used through serial number "1389". The recoil spring plug lacks the punched lip added about serial number 6500. The barrel is blued with brush-blue chamber and, reportedly, lacks any proof or sub-inspection marks which were not applied until about serial number 293. The grip screws are the early style with thin heads. The two-tone, lanyard loop, magazine has the exposed base plate issued thru pistol serial number 4500. The rear sight has the round top that was used through 1913. The right side of the frame is stamped: "No.22" ahead of the trigger guard. The large "UNITED STATES PROPERTY" mark is stamped on the left side of the frame ahead of the trigger guard. The "WGP" monogram of Ordnance Inspector Major Walter G. Penfield is stamped on the left side of the frame above the magazine release button. The top of the frame and rear face of the slide lack the sub-inspectors stamps added at serial number 223. The right side of the slide is roll-stamped: "MODEL OF 1911. U.S.ARMY". The left side of the slide is stamped with the 1897, 1902, 1905, and 1911 patent markings in two lines followed by the two-line Colt Hartford address using slightly larger letters. The encircled Rampant Colt trademark is roll-stamped on the left side of the slide behind the grip serrations. A close-up of the serial number of this pistol is pictured on page 135 of "U.S. Military Automatic Pistols 1894-1920" by Edward S. Meadows. The pistol is accompanied by a letter and copied Ordnance Department documents from Springfield Research Service that discuss the original sale to Lieutenant Netherwood and a Colt historical letter that states this pistol was one of 80 pistols shipped from Colt to Springfield Armory on January 4, 1912. One of the documents dated December 21, 1911, from Springfield Armory, notes that twenty-two officers had requested to purchase these early pistols. In the book, this pistol is listed as the third pistol reshipped to an officer. Colonel Douglas Blakeshaw Netherwood (1885-1943) was one of the U.S. military’s earliest pilots and spent his adult life in the United States military moving from a private all the way to a brigadier general before reverting to colonel late in his career. When he began flying, the U.S. military had only eight planes and sixteen flying officers. His first solo flight was February 7, 1914. By the time of his death in a plane crash while serving our country during World War II, he was rated as a junior military aviator, expert aviator, airplane pilot, airplane observer, command pilot, and combat observer and was a member of the Army and Navy Club in Manila and the Early Birds Society. He held various commands, including in the Philippines and the American Southwest. Though born in England, he graduated from Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1908 and enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army. He first served in the Coast Artillery Corps and commanded the 160th Company seacoast battery in 1912-1912 before becoming interested in aviation and became a junior military aviator in August of 1914 before serving in the 1st Company of the 2nd Aero Squadron in the Philippines. After returning stateside, he served in the Airplane Division of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer and was rated as a full military aviator on August 20, 1917, and was the commanding officer Love Field in Dallas, Texas, then the San Antonio Air Depot, and then the Air Depot at Americus, Georgia, before being assigned to the Organized Reserves of the Second Corps Area in New York City. He graduated from the Army Industrial College in Washington, D.C., on June 30, 1925, and then completed an MBA at Harvard and was assigned to the Office of the Chief of the Air Corps and later became the Chief of the Finance Division. He studied at the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field in Alabama and then returned to service in the Philippines after graduation, first as Department Air Officer and subsequently also as the commanding officer of Nichols Field and the 4th Composite Group. When he returned to the States, he served in the Plans Division of the Office of the Chief of the Air Corps before attending the Army War College and graduating in June 1936. He then served as assistant director and later director of the Air Corps Board at Maxwell Field until February 1940 when he became the commanding officer of Mitchel Field in New York. That October, he became commanding general of the 19th Wing at Albrook Field in the Panama Canal Zone, and was the commanding general of Borinquen Field and the 13th Composite Wing in Puerto Rico the following September. He returned back to the U.S. in December of 1941 as the commander of Baer Field at Fort Wayne, Indiana, and was assigned to the Engineer School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, in October 1942. On August 19, 1943, while piloting an A-25 on a flight from Orland Army Air Base in Florida, Netherwood and Corporal Kelley M. Cates were killed in a crash, and the plane and their bodies were never found. His son of the same name also served in the military and was also a colonel and was in charge of the computer section in the Directorate of Science and Technology in the Air Force Headquarters at the Pentagon. Colonel Netherwood’s grandson, also Douglas, also worked in the Pentagon.

Exceptionally fine. This rare and historic pistol retains 85% of the bright original high polish blue finish. The frame has some light edge wear. There is finish wear on the grip safety. The slide shows handling and storage wear with edge wear, light scratches and handling marks on the top and left side. The right side of the slide has scattered spots of light pitting and surface discoloration with finish loss and some scratches. The small parts retain 85% of the delicate nitre blue finish with most of the wear on the left side of the trigger, slide stop and safety lock. The barrel has 85% of the blue and brush blue finish. All of the markings are crisp. The grips are excellent with sharp checkering and minimal handling wear. The grip screws have 75% of the fire blue finish. The rare, Type I, exposed floor plate magazine is in very fine condition and retains 75% of the original muted two-tone finish with some scattered and insignificant surface discoloration. This is a truly exceptional example of a fully documented, first production Colt U.S. Contract M1911 pistol that has all the very desirable features found only on the very first M1911 pistols.