Compass Omi Nistri mod. PEZZANI Type 0-2, Italian Royal Air Force, circa 1930

Compass mod. Pezzani Type 0-2 produced by Omi-Nistri of Rome, installed on Italian military aircraft from the mid-1930s until the end of the Second World War.

This compass model was installed on many aircraft such as: Savoia-Marchetti 79 bombers, fighter aircraft Type Macchi C200, 202, 205, Fiat CR42 etc.etc.

The gyrodirectional compass is made of solid bronze and glass and has the pre-set route setting scale, as well as the various zeroings and declinations. Perfectly working; It also features its anti-vibration base and locking flange.

The Omi-Nistri Roma Ottica Meccanica Italiana company of the Nistri brothers based in Rome began its activity during the First World War and specialized in the construction of photographic equipment for the Air Force to be used in aerial reconnaissance (planimetric and perspective equipment) and in shooting schools (photo machine guns).

The anonymous company Ottico Meccanica Italiana e Rilevamenti Aerofotogrammetrici was founded as early as 1924, but it was only in 1937-38 that its headquarters were built in the San Paolo area for the production of precision optical instruments for the Air Force.

Around 1938, OMI established itself on international markets for the export of aeronautical material and in the years of the Second World War, the company took on strategic importance, given its mainly military production. At the end of the Second World War, OMI, like other Italian industries producing military equipment, found itself in the position of having to forcibly change its reference market.