Thanks for your post, Hookpunch!. This is in fact exactly what I was talking about - people look at Fairbairn and focus on the specific techniques but fail to grasp the wide picture.

Fairbairn's two WWII-era booklets were already criticized for some of their shortcomings at the time they were published. Some, including Fairbairn's colleague Sykes (who was in no small part responsible to creating the British silent killing syllabus at the time) felt that the books were rushed into print and did not contain the best overall selection of techniques. Applegate's Kill or Get Killed is generally thought to be more comprehensive and better balanced in that regard.

It's important to note that Fairbairn was a highly experienced judoka and therefore partial to techniques found in old-school "combat" judo at the time, which still included strikes unlike the sport judo practiced today. But if you read the actual WWII training syllabus, the trainees were taught to use any techniques they were familiar with, even boxing punches as long as they could throw them correctly. Check out Melson's book Close Combat Files of Rex Applegate for more info, it's a good read.

The bottom line is, the techniques depicted in Fairbairn's books are what he personally thought were the moves that offered the most bang for the buck for someone not trained in combatives already. Pretty much all Fairbairn taught was however tried and tested in practice (with a number of sources and reports to back it up should you wish to research the operative history of his system). So I'd be hesitant to call any of his techniques useless. Getting them right may be another story because there are very few people these days who still practice old-school judo.

But again, Fairbairn's combatives are about the concept, not techniques. A lot of folks don't understand that and hence miss the forest for the trees. As always, YMMV.