1e was even weirder, BTW. A guy swinging a dagger actually could swing TWICE AS FAST against an opponent carrying a fairly heavy weapon as he could against an unarmed or dagger-wielding opponent, and three times as fast against someone carrying an awl pike (the only weapon that speed factor ever gives three attacks against). The idea that you can get in more hits with a dagger if I'm fighting you with a two-handed sword than if I'm unarmed is really bizarre, and it's even more bizarre when you realize that the dagger gets two attacks against a footman's mace or a battle axe but not against a horseman's mace or any sword smaller than two handed.
But don't take my word for it, take the word of the man who came up with the idea: "Forget weapon speed factors! I must have been under the influence of a hex when I included them in the bloody rules." - Gary Gygax
I bet. But 1E was the epitome of bizarre rules for their own sake*. It's the only edition I never played, not counting the SSI Gold Box games. Went straight from D&D Basic to AD&D 2E around 1989 or so. I remember that also being the edition that Wizards (Magic-Users) could learn to throw darts at an opponent but a crossbow was too dang complicated.
It's also the edition that has codified so many inaccuracies in fantasy RPGs these days, including what a "longsword" actually is, and armor that never existed to any great extent in reality. At least subsequent editions of D&D were able to gradually divest themselves of Gygax's bizarre pole-arm fetish.