A Battle of Britain Early WW2, Bomber Command Officer's 1939 - Mk IX Dry Card Prismatic Compass (a Normal Verner's Pattern)

Original WW2 Mk9 British Military pocket prismatic marching compass, complete with WD mark. From a Bomber Command officer {acquired with his stop watch, but sold separately} This apparently was his personal use compass, in case he was shot down, especially over enemy occupied Europe.

Stamped F Barker & Sons serial numbered B14515, in degrees format. In working condition it has been used yet the black lacquer case finish is near perfect. A very nice & unusual piece of British wartime history Measures 5.5cms dia weighs 150 gms Francis Barker & Son was a British manufacturer made in 1939, a model they replaced in 1942 with the 42 Pattern Liquid Prismatic Compass

BARKER (Francis BARKER & Son)
British Company founded in London by Francis Barker (1820 - Dec. 15, 1875) in 1846. Two years later, in 1848, he set up a second company, Groves and Barker - Mariners' Compass and Sundial Makers with his friend and former co-apprentice Richard Groves and they traded from 16 Market Street, Clerkenwell, London. Richard died in 1864 and about one year after his death Groves & Barker was absorbed into the thriving F. Barker & Son. F. Barker & Son also took over and incorporated the company J & G Simms (where he and Richard Groves had learned their trade) in 1855 once both the brothers had died.

Bomber Command comprised a number of Groups. It began the war with Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 Groups. No. 1 Group was soon sent to France and then returned to Bomber Command control after the evacuation of France. No. 2 Group consisted of light and medium bombers who, although operating both by day and night, remained part of Bomber Command until 1943, when it was removed to the control of Second Tactical Air Force, to form the light bomber component of that command. Bomber Command also gained two new groups during the war: the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) squadrons were organised into No. 6 Group and the Pathfinder Force was expanded to form No. 8 (Pathfinder) Group from existing squadrons.

Many squadrons and personnel from Commonwealth and other European countries flew in Bomber Command. No. 6 Group, which was activated on 1 January 1943, was unique among Bomber Command groups, in that it was not an RAF unit; it was a Canadian unit attached to Bomber Command. At its peak strength, 6 Group consisted of 14 operational RCAF bomber squadrons and 15 squadrons served with the group. No. 8 Group, also known as the Pathfinder Force, was activated on 15 August 1942. It was a critical part of solving the navigational and aiming problems experienced. Bomber Command solved its navigational problems using two methods. One was the use of a range of increasingly sophisticated electronic aids to navigation and the other was the use of specialist Pathfinders. The technical aids to navigation took two forms. One was external radio navigation aids, as exemplified by Gee and the later highly accurate Oboe systems. The other was the centimetric navigation equipment H2S radar carried in the bombers. The Pathfinders were a group of elite, specially trained and experienced crews who flew ahead and with the main bombing forces and marked the targets with flares and special marker-bombs. No. 8 Group controlled the Pathfinder squadrons.

A number of other groups were part of the command, including, in June 1944, No. 26 Group RAF, three operational training groups - No. 91 Group RAF at Morton Hall, Swinderby, which was merged into No. 21 Group RAF, part of RAF Flying Training Command, on 1 May 1947;15 Nos 92 and 93 Groups; and No. 100 Group RAF16 (of which last was responsible for development, operational trial and use of electronic warfare and countermeasures equipment)

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Code: 25021