British Aircrew Royal Sovereign Wooden Chinagraph Pencils
Air Ministry Ref No: 9-335 (Yellow)
Used for writing on perspex kneeboards, maps, radar screens, etc...
They are an item I could find very little official documentation on, so I headed off to the PPRuNe forum for help.
Soon the overwhelming notion became apparent that aside from its use as part of an AEA this humble item (along with perspex sheet) was the unofficial backbone of the armed forces before computer technology took over.
The discussion that this brought about was fantastic (and well worth a read), as many people recounted service stories involving these pencils, and some very kind individuals sent me some pencils and spare wax leads to photograph for this web page!
Rough Timeline
According to comments in the PPRuNe thread, wooden Chinagraph pencils were in service roughly from WW2 to the early 1960's, when the plastic Scripto Chinagraph pencil was introduced.
Exhibits
Air Ministry, Royal Sovereign Yellow Chinagraph Pencils
These images are by kind courtesy of David Farnsworth of historicflyingclothing.com and show the yellow wooden Chinagraph pencil marked AM for Air Ministry.
