British Military WWII Flare Pistol - Deactivated

This is a WWII British RAF marked No2 MK5 1inch flare pistol. It is broad arrow stamped on the frame. During WW2 I.L. Berridge & Co, who were a commercial knitting machine manufacturer were contract by the British Government to make the No2 MK5, producing over 200,000 examples of this particular flare pistol. They were issued to the RAF, Navy and the Army. This example has a distinctive lug on the left side of the barrel. This design is most commonly associated with the RAF who used the lug to lock the pistol into the air crafts fuselage before firing.