Showing posts tagged navigation
#USAAF #ushistory #WW2 Gyroscope Used in Aviation The mini-aviator has great thigh musculature! from: Your Wings; Assen Jordanoff; 1936-1942; Funk and Wagnalls. View high resolution

#USAAF #ushistory #WW2

Gyroscope Used in Aviation

The mini-aviator has great thigh musculature!

from: Your Wings; Assen Jordanoff; 1936-1942; Funk and Wagnalls.

#RCAF #CAF #cdnhistory #polar #map A Very Canadian Map from: Arctic Air Navigation; Flight Lieutenant Keith R Greenway, RCAF; 1951; Arctic Research, Defence Research Board. Although our silly Canadian government constantly whips up the spectre of trans-polar nuclear bombing by Russia (to justify buying useless one-lung F-35s), this has not been a real danger since the 1960s. You may recall that the US atomic missions over Japan had the potential to ‘bomb by radar’ … using aircraft radar units to identify landmarks through obstructing cloud over the targets. … Consider the challenge of flying RCAF arctic interceptor jets as the Cold War started. I will never understand all the topics covered in this book … but to do this required vastly different calculations … The “magnetic north pole” is located within the Canadian land mass (and often to your geographical south) so your compass doesn’t work well. The polar surface is in darkness during winter with extremely sparse illuminated settlements - so conventional maps are often useless. Near the top of the earth … sunrise, sunset and twilight times change rapidly as the lines of longitude converge (as you fly to the pole). Besides having some ‘ground [military air traffic] control’ to guide them, how did they know where they were, long before GPS? One tool they could use was this primitive radar to look for surface features in the dark and under snowstorms. Notice at the end of the text that unmapped radar features observed can be noted for future flights. Do it yourself mapping and navigation. You’re on your own! View high resolution

#RCAF #CAF #cdnhistory #polar #map

A Very Canadian Map

from: Arctic Air Navigation; Flight Lieutenant Keith R Greenway, RCAF; 1951; Arctic Research, Defence Research Board.

Although our silly Canadian government constantly whips up the spectre of trans-polar nuclear bombing by Russia (to justify buying useless one-lung F-35s), this has not been a real danger since the 1960s.

You may recall that the US atomic missions over Japan had the potential to ‘bomb by radar’ … using aircraft radar units to identify landmarks through obstructing cloud over the targets.

… Consider the challenge of flying RCAF arctic interceptor jets as the Cold War started. I will never understand all the topics covered in this book … but to do this required vastly different calculations …

  • The “magnetic north pole” is located within the Canadian land mass (and often to your geographical south) so your compass doesn’t work well.
  • The polar surface is in darkness during winter with extremely sparse illuminated settlements - so conventional maps are often useless.
  • Near the top of the earth … sunrise, sunset and twilight times change rapidly as the lines of longitude converge (as you fly to the pole).

Besides having some ‘ground [military air traffic] control’ to guide them, how did they know where they were, long before GPS?

One tool they could use was this primitive radar to look for surface features in the dark and under snowstorms.

Notice at the end of the text that unmapped radar features observed can be noted for future flights. Do it yourself mapping and navigation. You’re on your own!

#Normandie #NYC #ushistory Epic Feat of Salvage ” … After a disastrous fire, the giant French liner, Normandie, turned over at her Hudson River Pier, New York, in 1942. Before salvage operations could be begun, her huge superstructure had to be cut away and her hull made watertight. She is seen lying on her side before thousands of tons of water were pumped out of her. She was eventually towed away.” from: The Wonderful Story of the Sea; AC Hardy; c1950; Odhams Press, London. View high resolution

#Normandie #NYC #ushistory

Epic Feat of Salvage

” … After a disastrous fire, the giant French liner, Normandie, turned over at her Hudson River Pier, New York, in 1942. Before salvage operations could be begun, her huge superstructure had to be cut away and her hull made watertight. She is seen lying on her side before thousands of tons of water were pumped out of her. She was eventually towed away.”

from: The Wonderful Story of the Sea; AC Hardy; c1950; Odhams Press, London.

#lighthouse #ocean Constructional Details of Three Types of Lighthouse Cross-sections through a caisson lighthouse, a rock lighthouse and a screw-pile light. These drawings show the structure of the house, position of the lanterns and dimensions in relation to the surrounding water. Note the solid proportions of the masonry. The base of the rock light structure is dovetailed into the live rock and the structure grows above it. The screw light, as the name indicates, is literally screwed into sand or coral. The caisson light’s base is sunk and fitted with concrete. from: The Wonderful Story of the Sea; AC Hardy; c1950; Odhams Press, London. View high resolution

#lighthouse #ocean

Constructional Details of Three Types of Lighthouse

Cross-sections through a caisson lighthouse, a rock lighthouse and a screw-pile light. These drawings show the structure of the house, position of the lanterns and dimensions in relation to the surrounding water. Note the solid proportions of the masonry. The base of the rock light structure is dovetailed into the live rock and the structure grows above it. The screw light, as the name indicates, is literally screwed into sand or coral. The caisson light’s base is sunk and fitted with concrete.

from: The Wonderful Story of the Sea; AC Hardy; c1950; Odhams Press, London.

#lighthouse #ukhistory #navigation Winstanley’s Eddystone Lighthouse, near Plymouth, England ‘The first lighthouse on the Eddystone Rock was built by Edward Winstanley between 1695 and 1700. Warned repeatedly that his building was not strong enough to resist tempests, Winstanley declared his readiness to remain during any weather. In 1703 he set out to prove his words. A violent storm broke out while he was on the rock, and building and builder perished.’ from: The Wonderful Story of the Sea; AC Hardy; c1950; Odhams Press, London. NB: Winstanley was an artist … but not an engineer/architect. View high resolution

#lighthouse #ukhistory #navigation

Winstanley’s Eddystone Lighthouse, near Plymouth, England

‘The first lighthouse on the Eddystone Rock was built by Edward Winstanley between 1695 and 1700. Warned repeatedly that his building was not strong enough to resist tempests, Winstanley declared his readiness to remain during any weather. In 1703 he set out to prove his words. A violent storm broke out while he was on the rock, and building and builder perished.’

from: The Wonderful Story of the Sea; AC Hardy; c1950; Odhams Press, London.

NB: Winstanley was an artist … but not an engineer/architect.

#aviation #ushistory Lockheed Constellation A Connie navigator works out a course using celestial navigation. An interesting assortment of gauges and instruments is on display. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation photo View high resolution

#aviation #ushistory

Lockheed Constellation

A Connie navigator works out a course using celestial navigation. An interesting assortment of gauges and instruments is on display.

Lockheed Aircraft Corporation photo