A little piece of history.

I wonder how many people would be able to identify this.

It's a Morse key, commonly called a "bathtub" key because of it's shape.

It's made from Bakelite an probably manufactured  by Northern Electric in Ottawa, USA from 1936 onward, I came to this conclusion because it's black, the English made ones are brown. .   The housing is designed to be watertight and spark proof, so was used in environments where sparks could cause explosions.  It was used on most wartime planes so I can dream that mine was once an important part of a Lancaster Bomber.  

I bought it today at the local Horncastle Radio Rally.  I did kind of just fall in love with the nostalgia of it.   

It is not commonly known but I am a licensed radio amateur and I had to work a Morse key as part of the qualification, I'm not so sure I could do it now though.

Anyway I love this little key, and I intend to add to the collection either by buying different keys or more probably by buying Lancaster memorabilia.  .