Autopilot Control Panel for A-5 Auto Pilot System, Sperry Carvair the aircraft is headed in

the aircraft is headed in the desired direction

as used in US Navy aircraft during WWII

The metal housing hosts some rust which could be removed with care

and we are assuming that is the manufacturing date of May 1939

Autopilot Control Panel for A-5 Auto Pilot System, Sperry Carvair the aircraft is headed inThe A 5 Automatic Pilot was used primarily in WWII era bomber aircraft of the Air Corps US Army such as the Consolidated B 24 Liberator (see photo of B 24 cockpit showing the location of the A 5 panel). The A 5 system appeared in aircraft manufactured during or before 1943, the year when the Honeywell C 1 system became the standard autopilot system for large multi engine aircraft. Theoretically, the A 5 system may also have appeared in the Boeing B 17