Bendix B16 Compass Question

Dan Jones · **Posted:** Wed Jul 01, 2009 7:43 pm

Mods - if this belongs more in the "Hangar" please feel free to move it.

Greetings all,

I just picked up a B16 compass from Ebay and I was wondering if anyone out there has an answer for this:

Every Bendix B16 compass I have ever seen has "A.C. US Army" on it's tag. Did the Navy ever use these compasses in anything, and if so what did their data tag say?

Dan

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Wed Jul 01, 2009 7:51 pm

any ww 2 instrument used by both army & navy will have the letters AN followed by the instrument's model number. the AN stands for army / navy which means an instrument with that designation was used in different aircraft of both services. your instrument was used strictly by the air corp.

Dan Jones · **Posted:** Wed Jul 01, 2009 9:03 pm

Thanks Tom. So, just to be clear, the B16 wasn't used by the Navy?

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Wed Jul 01, 2009 9:18 pm

not under that designation. god forbid if the navy would put anything relating to olive drab in their planes!!! :wink:

Dan Jones · **Posted:** Wed Jul 01, 2009 9:29 pm

cadet77 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:16 am

Dan,

The Kollsman (PN 758) and Pioneer (PN 1803, 1818) manufactured B-16 compasses are listed in T.O. No. 05-1-67 (dated 20 June 1944) as being used by the Army, Navy and British.

The Stearman PT-13D/N2S-5 parts catalog (AN 01-70AC-4) lists the pilots compass (rear instrument panel) as a type B-16, and the forward instrument panel compass as a Type MK VIII.

On your question, a variety of B-16 compasses were manufactured. They all are similar, as the following photos show.

The three compasses are type B-16, the one in the middle with the larger compass window is a Kollsman PN 758. The other two examples were manufactured by Pioneer.
Note that the Kollsman PN 758 has an additional data marking on the body of the compass that includes the FSSN No. 88-C-783-10, Kollsman 758, AN5733-1, Army B-16.

Are you having second thoughts on the use of the B-16 compass in the Stearman?

Larry

omega7 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 11:14 am

cadet77 wrote:

Dan,

The Kollsman (PN 758) and Pioneer (PN 1803, 1818) manufactured B-16 compasses are listed in T.O. No. 05-1-67 as being used by the Army, Navy and British.

1944 Kollsman literature list Type 758 spec. equivalents as: AN-5733-1, Army B-16 and Navy F.S.S.C 88-C-783. No British numbers shown. -Adrian

cadet77 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 12:16 pm

omega 7,

The data on A-Army, N-Navy, B-British services and C-Commercial usage for the B-16 compass is from the following T.O. page (dated 22 June 1944):

The listing of B-British is likely in reference to lend-lease aircraft at the time the T.O. was issued. As for actual aircraft application, the specific aircraft parts catalog and other aircraft acceptance data would be the better source for what instruments were installed in a specific aircraft.

Larry

Dan Jones · **Posted:** Thu Jul 02, 2009 5:51 pm

cadet77 wrote:

Are you having second thoughts on the use of the B-16 compass in the Stearman?

Larry

Thanks Larry - that's great. I knew somebody here would have some really great info. I'm not having any second thoughts on the compass, it was just the other day when I was digging through my stuff looking for a pair of matching compass cores to send out for overhaul it occurred to me that I'd never seen a B16 with Navy markings, only Army ones. I do need a pair of them for my Stearman project as they're the only ones that will fit the panels, though I may have a pair of Navy MK VIII compasses, and it is a Navy N2S-3 project. Thanks very, very much for the info.

Dan

patelie · **Posted:** Fri Sep 05, 2014 9:54 am

Hello
I notice, in the characteristics, that the illumination was made by a 3v lamp.
If so, in 1944 which was the method used to reduce the voltage from 24v to 3v ?
We have this compass in our C-47 and wanted to illuminate it.
Thanks

Edit : Ok, I found the answer in the maintenance manual. There was a resistor to reduce the voltage

UC61K · **Posted:** Fri Sep 05, 2014 1:58 pm

I have a B-16 that needs repair (leaks and numbers are yellow and cracking off spindle.
Can anyone furnish a good repair shop or sell me a good B-16 for my airplane?
Pm me please!
Jim C
Midwest Aeronautique LLC
UC-61K USAAF# 43-14964 / RAF # HB-690

stearmann4 · **Posted:** Sat Jan 10, 2015 11:12 am

Dan Jones wrote:

cadet77 wrote:

Are you having second thoughts on the use of the B-16 compass in the Stearman?

Larry

Thanks Larry - that's great. I knew somebody here would have some really great info. I'm not having any second thoughts on the compass, it was just the other day when I was digging through my stuff looking for a pair of matching compass cores to send out for overhaul it occurred to me that I'd never seen a B16 with Navy markings, only Army ones. I do need a pair of them for my Stearman project as they're the only ones that will fit the panels, though I may have a pair of Navy MK VIII compasses, and it is a Navy N2S-3 project. Thanks very, very much for the info.

Dan

Dan only the N2S-5/PT-13Ds had a B-16 and Navy Mark VIII compass split in each cockpit. if you look at a parts list the compass is labeled as "GFE" or Govt Furnished equipment. An N2S-3 (I have one also) had the Navy Mark VIII compasses in each cockpit. The kicker, is that the Navy floating panels are slightly different than a PT-17 floating panel in that a different hole is cut for the two different compasses and the clock is different as well. The clock adjustment knob is at the 6' o'clock on PTs, 7' o'clock on N2Ss. The PTs and N2S's also have different hinged crash pad covers that fit the floating panels. By the advent of the N2S-5s, the military has realized the economy of true common aircraft for both services instead of slight differences for each customer. It took me years to collect the correct parts! If you have any questions drop me an email: Stearmann4@msn.com Mike-

Dan Jones · **Posted:** Tue Jan 13, 2015 1:07 am

Thanks Mike - good info. I ended up using the late model -5 center panels in my N2S-3 (not totally accurate but I had two good ones and I prefer the layout over the earlier ones) and mounted a fresh Bendix Mk VIII in each one. The Mk VIII looks like a really nice compass - they draw a lot of comments from visitors to my shop.

Thanks again.

resto 108 · **Joined:** Sat May 23, 2015 7:06 pm **Posts:** 2

I'm considering wiring up the light in the Kollsman 758 in my Stinson, but I have a couple questions. First, are the bulbs still available? Even better, are they available in 12V? If not, what size resistor was used to step down the voltage? I couldn't find a part number on the electrical connector, does anyone have the airplane side connector part number or a source? I did a search for the TO referenced, but no luck.

Thanks in advance!

patelie · **Posted:** Sun May 24, 2015 2:06 am

resto 108 wrote:

First, are the bulbs still available? Even better, are they available in 12V?

Yes. the answer was given in this topic when I asked the same thing.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=54276

The bulbs are 3V 0.19A and I think that there is no other voltage.

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Bendix B16 Compass Question

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