jgawne Posted February 26, 2009 Share #1 Posted February 26, 2009 This was in a small lot of US WW2 stuff I recently aquired. I asked a WW2 AAF guy know who said it did not sound like any escape compass he had seen used by the AAF, so... what the heck is it? The body is black bakelite with two holes in the bttom, There is a brass ring at the top with knurled edges. In the one photo the flash has made the bottom section light colored, but as you can see in another it is true black. It is about the size of a dime, and yup- still points north! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Hudson Posted February 26, 2009 Share #2 Posted February 26, 2009 A lot of American pilots carried the British escape compasses (and there were several styles) but this doesn't look like any of those. What happens when you turn the knurled top, does it unscrew? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgawne Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share #3 Posted February 26, 2009 The bass ring will turn, but it does not unscrew. When you turn it it turns the entire top glass which has a luminous dot on it. Why, I am not sure, becasue you could do pretty much the same by just turning the entire compass. Due to the high degree of manufacture perhaps I should should "identify" it as a special SS Fallshimjager Bn 600 escape compass. Oh, no, wait. It was the special issue compass for E/506th which Captain Winters paid for out of his own money..... I kind of get a British vibe from it, but have nothing really to base that on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeb137 Posted February 26, 2009 Share #4 Posted February 26, 2009 Our Friend hhbooker2 had a post on buttons, and your compass kind of reminds me of that. Since it is the size of a dime, has the two holes in it, it may just be that it was sewn onto a coat, shirt or jacket. Just a thought, no real substance or information here... Just a hmmm thing. Jon B Newaygo MI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgawne Posted February 27, 2009 Author Share #5 Posted February 27, 2009 Actually the two holds are not conected. it looks like maybe that is how they put in the fluid, then sealed the pottom of them with putty or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEAST Posted February 27, 2009 Share #6 Posted February 27, 2009 The bass ring will turn, but it does not unscrew. When you turn it it turns the entire top glass which has a luminous dot on it. Why, I am not sure, becasue you could do pretty much the same by just turning the entire compass. Due to the high degree of manufacture perhaps I should should "identify" it as a special SS Fallshimjager Bn 600 escape compass. Oh, no, wait. It was the special issue compass for E/506th which Captain Winters paid for out of his own money..... I kind of get a British vibe from it, but have nothing really to base that on. Turning the top glass with the dot on it (bezel ring IIRC) allows you to know where magnetic north is relative to your direction of travel. In other word, if you know you need to travel northeast, you determine magnetic north and turn the dot to the NE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgawne Posted February 27, 2009 Author Share #7 Posted February 27, 2009 Yeah, but since there is no other markings on the compass or the compass inside, you can do the exact same thing by just rotating the compass. so why go to all the trouble to make it turnable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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