British WW2 Escape compass ‘pill box’ type as issued to allied pilots, paratroopers, commandos, the regular army and SOE agents as part of escape and evasion kits. Scarce circular inner card variant

British WW2 Escape compass ‘pill box’ type as issued to allied pilots, paratroopers, commandos, the regular army and SOE agents as part of escape and evasion kits. Scarce circular inner card variant

British WW2 Escape compass ‘pill box’ type with bevelled glass lens and scarce circular internal card

Condition: Good condition

This is a less common model. Together with escape maps, a hacksaw blade and phrase cards, they were packed in a rubberized canvas map pouch. Soldiers also called it the ‘asshole compass’ because it was so small, you could hide it anywhere… It is cylindrical in shape and consists of a brass shell, 0.60” (15,24 mm) in diameter x 0.19” (4,9 mm) high, with a wall thickness of 0.015” (0,38 mm). The blackened non-ferrous compass card of the earlier versions has been replaced by a 0.45” (11,43 mm) diameter circular card. Four holes at 0.12” (3,05 mm) diameter spaced evenly on a 0.28” (7,11 mm) diameter base circle of the card reduced its mass, hence the inertia, allowing the card to come to rest with a minimum of oscillations. This example has a bare metal card with two dots of (luminous) paint small stripe of red paint. The compass card turns freely on its pivot. A small magnet secured to the underside of the card aligns the card with the North Magnetic Pole. It has a bevelled lens, being a bit higher than other examples and a black painted body