FP-45 Liberator Country United States Type Pistol Manufacturer GM Introduction 1942 Specifications Weight 1 lb. (454 g) Length 5.55 in. (141 mm) Barrel length 4 in. (102 mm) Cartridge .45 ACP Action single-shot Muzzle velocity 820 ft/s (250 m/s) Feed system single shot

The FP-45 Liberator was a pistol manufactured for the United States military during World War II for use by resistance forces in occupied territories.

The pistol had its origins in the US Army Joint Psychological Committee and was designed for the United States Army in 1942 by the Inland Guide Lamp Manufacturing Division of the General Motors Corporation in Dayton, Ohio. The army designated the weapon the Flare Projector Caliber .45 hence the designation FP-45. This was done to disguise the fact that a pistol was being mass produced. The Guide Lamp Division plant in Anderson, Indiana assembled a million of these weapons. The Liberator project took about 6 months from conception to end of production with about 11 weeks of actual manufacturing time, done by 300 workers.

The Liberator was shipped in a cardboard box with 10 rounds of .45 ACP ammunition, a wooden dowel to remove the empty shell casing, and an instruction sheet in comic strip form[1] showing how to load and fire the weapon. Excess rounds of ammunition could be stored in the pistol grip.

In reality, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) never saw the practicality in mass dropping the Liberator over occupied Europe, and only a handful were ever distributed. Only the Chinese and resistance forces in the Philippines received the Liberator in any significant quantity. The Liberator was never issued to American or Allied troops and there is no known instance of the weapon ever actually being used in combat.