Well I reckon it's all getting more plausible, not to mention interesting!
As it's a **** night for working I can add a few historical facts if anybody is interested!
When the first US aircraft arrived in the UK during the war, they were shipped in bits but nobody here had A/F size wrenches to put them together!
'No probem' said uncle Sam, who promptly shipped every successive aircraft with a complete (and that did mean complete) set of tools! So... by the end of the war, (and certainly through to the 50's) there were a lot of decent tools knocking around, especially on the air bases!
As to the Smith and Wesson, well that could be too! The U.K. armed forces underwent massive changes in the 1930's as part of the switch to mobile warfare. One less than welcome change was the switch from .455 revolvers to .38 (.38/200 to be precise, which was basically a .38 S&W loaded with a 200 grain hollow point).
There were legal concerns about this round, so even though the projectile never attained enough velocity to expand (you need about 900 f.p.s which the poor old .38 S&W won't reach with a 200gr head) it was replaced with a lighter Full Metal Jacketed head.
Now, this wasn't the best practical pistol combination in the world (comparable to a modern 9mm short at best) so anybody who really needed a pistol was generally issued a.45, while those who just wanted something better could usually obtain an obsolescent (yeah right) .455!
The only exception was the aircrew! A .455 Webly Mk6, whilst beautifully made, is just too big for a fighters cockpit. Not ideal for clambering round inside a bomber either! Fortunately, the British Purchasing Commission in the U.S.A. had placed an order with Smith and Wesson for revolvers in .38! They were generally known as Victory models and most of them ended up with the RAF, where they were considered perfect!
The critical thing with 'Victories' is the date of manufacture! The later ones were 'war finished' and some were borderline rough! The early ones however, were made and finished to pre war standards and were simply gorgeous! Despite spending about 20 years in the U.K. defence industry, and handling probably thousands of pistols including many 'victories' I have only ever seen 2 of the early ones, one of which was, at the time, still in the hands of the officer it was issued to!
So, would I swop one of every Snap On tool made for an average Victory? No!
Would I swop some war finish Snap On that I had in abundance for an early model 'Victory'? God yes! With S&W's being an RAF item, and Great Uncle being on an air station, probably with tools in abundance, this sounds more and more plausible!
I can only add my tuppence worth to the clamour for pics!