The British P8 aircraft compass was made in the late 1930's early 1940's and was fitted to British Military aircraft at that time among the famous ones the Supermarine Spitfire and the Hawker Hurricane. The P8 saw action in the second world war dogfighting with the Germans, Italians and the Japs in the far east. Towards the end of the war the P8 was replaced by the similar P11. Which was virtually identical but had the compass rose modified to hold 2 sets of parallel lines instead of just the one original pair. The P8 is made of brass and bakerlite. with 2 glass windows. the compass itself is filled with alcohol and the compass rose rotates and locks on a desired heading by means of a brass lever located at the aft end.