WWll liquid compass/azimuth circle

BrotherRockeye

BrotherRockeye

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Hoping optics is the right forum for this.

My son's great Grandfather was RCAF in WWll.
Just before he passed away he gave some of his gear to me.
One of the items is a transit case with a liquid compass and azimuth circle inside.Quite obviously military.
I did a google search quite a while back but all I found was one for sale on a UK ebay.
It is a fairly substantial unit being quite deep and aprox 6" across the face.
I'm thinking it was from a bomber maybe...
anyone have any info on this thing?
know what it was used for?
any info would be great.
Obliged.
dd484c1778.jpg
 
well I kinda stumbled upon the answers to my own questions...
turns out this is an
AIR MINISTRY (A.M.)Aperiodic Compass.
Specifically a type:

02A Azimuth Compass

The Azimuth Compass was designed to allow navigators to obtain an accurate bearing of a geographical feature. The compass would be mounted on a fixed pole and aligned with the aircraft. By rotating a bezel on the top of the compass body, the sighting aperture would be brought into line with the feature and its bearing could then be read off the compass card through the glass prism mounted above.

A small lamp housing next to the prism allowed use at night.

The Aperiodic Compass

To have navigated accurately in the years before electronic aids, a good compass was necessary. The RAF used high quality compasses of the aperiodic type, that is to say they settled onto a true course after a turn without any overcompensation. The reason they were so reliable was due to their sophisticated features; a strong magnetic moment, small inertia, and heavy damping.

Compasses were prefixed either P for Pilot usage, or O for the Observer.

information gathered here:

Code: 
http://www.compassmuseum.com/aero/aero.htm
http://cairdpublications.com/scrap/navbit/navbit.htm

good day when I learn something :D
 
From Museum Victoria:

Aircraft compass Type 02A. Air Ministry stores reference no. 6A/0.890
This type of compass was used in the observer's position of an aircraft and features an azimuth ring raes from a prism mirror. Fitted to aircraft such as the Avro Anson, CAC Wirraway, Lockheed Hudson and Bristol Beaufighter.
 
This is kinda weird but I think I have a similar item left over from my father. He served in the artillery during the war (WW11) and his father served in WW1, also artillery. I'll have to dig deep but I'm sure it's here somewhere.
 
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