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Re: Amelia Earhart navigation- basic information.
From: Ronald P Barrett
Date: 2009 Nov 28, 08:53 -0800
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From: Ronald P Barrett
Date: 2009 Nov 28, 08:53 -0800
| You are right for the most part... however where is the dip correction allowance and how did that final celestial observation take place(mechanically)? The lack or the application of this celestial correction (dip) applied to the observation could well place one out of sight of the destination island. Being a former WesPac oceanic flight navigator in mostly unpressurized planes (C-124s) I can tell you the aircraft configuration will determine your possible observation points. And lil'flat islands are very hard to discern in the Pacific Ocean. To the point:the statement that a sun LOP of 337/157 is A-OK to state. That it was ever at some point in time, corrected for position, time, and passed through destination is highly subject to all corrections applied to the shot-LOP; the most critical being:how was the observation exicuted? Noonan could have shot off to the left(even though the bigger observation aft cabin window was on the right side of the plane). The on course-on-heading aft cabin off to the left shot, down (dipped) to the horizon was and may have been impossible in the L-10AE though. That visualization has as best I know, never been verified. The dipped-shot off the nose (from the front) of the L-10AE has not been verified either. There is the possibility that Noonan could have had the plane turned (in this case, left or right) to do an abeam dipped observation of the sun rise. In this case it would have been a +90 if to the right, and a less-than 90 degrees if turned to the left. This sort of large turn would have been called for because of the fat-wing-nacelle and engine being in the way of the aft observation windows which were in the very aft sides of the plane. In either case the plane would have to have been steady and in level flight(to get a good observation) on this new heading for a period of minutes. Then they would have to get quickly back on course. I have done such navigating over the Pacific myself and the pilots never did like this! I also did "doubledrifts" this way. The pilots did not like this either. On the radio side: there were two radios on this L-10AE. One was a low KC RBN. The other was the HF. It was the HF reel/wire that was removed in Florida. NOT THE RBN LOOP! The RBN LOP (RCA) and sense antennas be seen on all of the L-10AE pictures published to date. The LOOP tuner was the radio/control head that was placed pver AE's right ear in the ceiling of the cockpit. The HF( Western Electric 130C-HF transmitter with 20B receiver) was in the aft cabin. The HF had two antennas(one having been removed, the reel in Florida) and the permnant wire which ran from the crown mast (shown atop the HF radio aft cabin location) to the tail fins and back to the fuselage feed through. Ref pages 20-21 of Missing Believed Killed, by Roy Conyers Nesbit. Pan AM Navs were use to this HF because Pan Am was a Pioneer in this radio and even manufactured them and there crews used them, as a first in the industry. So Noonan no doubt was one of the most skilled in the use of this type of radio because he was on the very lead crew exploring the trans Atlantic and Pacific flight routes. There is a very early (I think Pan Am Number 2 HF) in the Airline History Museum here at Kansas City. I have opened it up and the design and manufacturing thereof can be seen to be excellent for the time it was built in. One of the problems with AE and the HF comm with the CG was that the CG had only one dedicated antenna on the Itasca! The CG had to switch back & forth to go to voice and/or to key code. No matter the CG could not R/T at any one time in both modes. So there were times the CG was totally off the air. Granted all the rest as far as a "Communications & Navigation plan" was loaded with miscues. Lucky for all, the Army Air Corps formally created flight "navigators" with the Coral Gables Class of 40-A which went forth and taught us all the skills needed to be able to navigate with great precision right up to the GPS. The first classes were all taught there at the University of Miami, Dinner Key and by Pan American Airways, led by Noonan's friend and Chief Nav Charles Lunn. I have been lost, but now I am found! Ron Barrett, President Air Force Navigators Observers Association (AFNOA) --- On Sat, 11/28/09, Gary LaPook <glapook@pacbell.net> wrote:
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