Manufactured in 1942, the included factory letter confirms the pistol's configuration with a five inch barrel chambered for .22 caliber, blue finish, and grips not listed when sold to the U.S. Government as a part of factory order No. 936 and sent in a shipment of 100 pistols to the Inspector of Ordnance (U.S. Springfield Armory) in Springfield, Massachusetts, on July 2 1942. Features fixed blade front and adjustable notch rear sights, long grip safety, checkered slide stop, thumb safety, wide spur hammer, short milled trigger, and arched mainspring housing without a lanyard loop. The left side of the slide bears the two-line Colt address and patent numbers with "rampant colt" at the rear, along with the model and caliber nomenclature on the right side. The left side frame bears a boxed "W.B." (Col. Waldemar S. Broberg) inspection mark, with "T" and "triangle/VP" marked on the trigger guard, while the right side bear the serial number with "69" on that side of the trigger guard. Fitted with a pair of checkered walnut grips and a two-tone magazine with Colt Ace markings on the base. Also includes a copy of an "Auto61" inventory record table, "record 291 of 16354", listing the pistol by serial number as sent to the University of Colorado Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) on July 16, 1942, along with three other Colt Service Model Ace pistols mentioned on the table.

Excellent plus, retaining 99% original blue finish with limited edge wear, a semi-circular takedown drag line visible on the frame and a few minor handling marks. The grips are also excellent, with crisp checkering. Mechanically excellent. It would be difficult to find a finer specimen of a World War II "W.B" inspected U.S. Colt Service Model Ace pistol than this example!