A good example of a scarce and sought after British Military Intelligence Section 9 and/or Special Operations Executive related Battle Dress blouse buckle compass

This is a neat and scarce to find example of a army issued British Battle Dress blouse buckle compass. Early Royal Air Force and army issued uniform Battle Dress blouses used a toothed buckle for securing the belt section on the bottom of the blouse. The buckle was made of a non-ferrous metal. The compass element was an arrow shaped piece of magnetized material concealed on the back portion of the buckle. The compass pivot was staked on a small swivel joint and when not in use was folded flat against a cross bar. The compass portion was stored on the opposite side of the same cross bar. A slider mounted on the same cross bar retains both the pivot pin and the compass needle assembly. To use as a compass, the slider is moved to release the compass element and the pivots swung to a vertical position. The buckle is placed on a stable horizontal surface and the compass needle assembly placed on the pivot. The pointed end of the compass points toward the North Magnetic pole. The buckle it self is voided of any markings. This type of escape compass is one of the rarer and difficult to find of the wartime escape compasses that were developed by Major William Christopher Clayton Hutton and his men at the British Military Intelligence Section 9. A scarce and diffucult to find escape item.

Code: 50479