It’s a compass

My late father-in-law Capt. Phil Kroon brought this aircraft instrument back from WWII. I supposed it was an artificial horizon, but never knew for sure, nor did I know what kind of aircraft it was in.

I sent some photos to the Freeman Field Recovery Team Facebook page this afternoon and received this in only a few minutes:

This is a WWII Luftwaffe compass known as an FK-38 FuhrerKompass. They were common to several German aircraft. The compass card was immersed in fluid,...usually mineral spirits. Thank you for sharing.

So now I know.

Freeman Field at Seymour, Ind., was where the bulk of the captured German aircraft were taken for study after the war. To the horror of historians and aviation buffs, virtually all of the hundreds of exotic planes were destroyed and buried there and are now the object of extensive archaeological excavations.