Description

Ex RAF Astro Compass MK II 6A/1174 4P. Used by RAF airmen to determine accurate true heading by the sun or stars in arctic regions. Fitted grey wooden case with woven fabric carrying handle. Instructions for Use are contained in the box together with a page from the magazine Newnes Practical Mechanics of September 1954 (pp 525-526) entitled “Surveyor’s Level and Theodilite Made from an Astro Compass” by J Vose AMSE.

The donor, Dr Steve Wallis, was formerly a lecturer in Water Engineering at Heriot-Watt University. He writes:

This was originally owned by father’s uncle, Roy England (1897-1992), and obtained sometime after WW II. He was a land surveyor, estate agent and insurance broker, living and working in Ashton-under-Lyne (a few miles east of Manchester). I suspect he was inspired by the 1954 Practical Mechanics article, which shows how astro compasses were converted into land surveying instruments.