The Compass Collector

Australian Air-Crew escape compass

2005-08-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

This is a World-War II escape compass issued to Australian air crew. It consists of two brass plated buttons, one of which is magnetized, and the other of which has a pin soldered on the convex face. To use the compass, the crewman would remove the buttons from their uniform, hold the pinback button with the pin facing up, and then nest the magnetic button over the top of the pinback button. The pin rested in an indentation in the center of the concave face of the magnetic button. Three luminous dots on the convex face of the magnetic button allowed viewing at night.

This is also one of the most radioactive compasses I have. At over 100,000 CPM (clicks per minute) on my Black Cat Systems GM-10 geiger counter, it generates more than twice the radioactivity than the second most radioactive compass (A WW-II TG Night Marching compass from the UK).

Another Bezard compass

2005-08-10T08:52:00.000-07:00

This is another example of a Bezard compass. This one is German and probably civilian. It may have been intended for an English-speaking market, although the compass points are in German.

2005-08-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

Face of German Bezard

2005-08-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

German Bezard, possibly WW-II

2005-08-10T07:41:00.001-07:00

1938 Czech Bezard compass.

2005-08-10T07:41:00.000-07:00

1938 Czech Bezard compass. The engraving is a list of Czech cities and magnetic declinations.

2005-02-02T16:54:00.000-08:00

Dietzgen Prismatic: Shooting a bearing

2005-02-02T16:37:00.000-08:00

Dietzgen Prismatic: notice the rust-colored numerals? That's radium paint.

2005-02-02T16:30:00.000-08:00

Dietzgen Prismatic

2005-02-02T16:28:00.000-08:00

Dietzgen Prismatic