General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

COMPASS - METAL; SYNTHETIC; GLASS/ CASE: SYNTHETIC WITH METAL HARDWARE AND CLOTH STRAP

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

24.5 cm

Width

12.5 cm

Height

14.2 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Astronomy

Category

Observation equipment

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Boes

Country

United States of America

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

North America

State/Province

Unknown

Period

PROBABLY USED IN THE 1970S

Canada

ONE OF SEVERAL COMPASSES GIVEN TO DONOR'S FATHERBY RAY MONROE (NOW DECEASED) A CDN BALLOONIST IN PAYMENT FOR SOME DEBTS.MONROE HAD ATTEMPTED TO SET ALTITUDE RECORDS. MONROE DESIGNED A LAMP TO BE MADE FROM THE COMPASSES & DONOR'S FATHER HAD COMPLETED SEVERAL. PROBABLY BOUGHT FROM CROWN ASSETS.

Function

USED BY A NAVIGATOR TO DETERMINE THE COURSE HEADING OF AN AIRCRAFT BY REFERENCE TO THE STARS. SIGHTINGS OF BRIGHT STARS WOULD HAVE BEEN USED ALONG WITH ASTRONOMICAL TABLES TO DETERMINE THE BEARING OF AN AIRCRAFT.

Technical

AN ADAPTATION OF SURVEY AND NAVIGATION DEVICES TO USE ON AIRCRAFT. PRECISION WAS RELATIVLEY LOW AND THIS WAS PROBABLY USED AS A BACKUP IN CASE OF INSTRUMENT/RADIO FAILURE.THE SIGHTING DEVICE OR ALIDADE IS INTERESTING VARIATION ON THE SIGHTS FOUND ON PRISMATIC COMPASSES & OTHER SIMPLE SURVEY APPARATUS.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

COMPASS: MFG'S PLATE: 'COMPASS ASTRO/ AN5738-1/ MFR'S OART BI, XCD-94/ CONTRACT NO. W535 AC-36491/ The W.W. Boes Co. [IN CURSIVE]'/ PRINTING ON BODY INCLUDES: 'ALL BEARINGS WHITE/ N.LAT.WHITE/ S.LAT.RED''LEVEL/ SET LAT./ SET L.H.A. BODY/ ALIGN ON BODY/ READ TRUE HEADING'/ VARIOUS SCALES/ STAMPED UNDERNEATH: 'AN/ W228''THE'WWB/ CO/ 7'/ CASE: PRINTING ON TOP SAME AS MFG'S PLATE ABOVE

Missing

APPEARS COMPLETE From CA of 12/06/2001 by Matthew Bruce: No - appears complete

Finish

COMPASS: FLAT BLACK ENAMEL WITH RED OR WHITE PRINTING; CASE: GLOSS BLACK ENAMEL WITH ORANGE PRINTING; KHAKI STRAP

Decoration

N/A