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Ken,

The caption under the photo of the pelorus in Mary Lovell's book says it was
a sighting device for the compass. I also read someplace that one method of
measuring drift was to sight on the tailplane. Do these sound feasible? I
understood that he had a drift indicator which was used by mounting it on a
bracket through the slightly open door??  Has anyone heard of this method?

Jackie


----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken Gebhart" 
To: 
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 3:32 AM
Subject: [NavList 10290] Re: Amelia Earhart's aerial navigation


>
> Just chiming in.  I cannot think of any possible use a pelorus would
> have on an airplane.  A drift Sight would be critical, but not a
> pelorus.
>
> Ken Gebhart
> On Oct 27, 2009, at 8:45 PM,  wrote:
>
>>
>> Jackie, you wrote:
>> "One of the few things we know for sure is there was a pelorus
>> fitted on a bracket at the starboard window which I understood him
>> to have used to take bearings. This is shown in several photographs."
>>
>> Can anyone point me to one of these photos somewhere online? I
>> tried to find one. Based on the text descriptions I've found of the
>> gear in the navigator's station on the Electra, I would now guess
>> that the current film got the details exactly correct visually.
>>
>> And you wrote:
>> "I havent seen the film yet, but I have heard it pays scant
>> attention to Noonan. But at least this time round they get the
>> resemblance right. Apparently he is portayed as unintelligent and
>> boisterous. Quite the opposite. He was highly intelligent and quiet
>> spoken."
>>
>> I wouldn't say that he's portrayed as 'unintelligent' --it's just
>> that his character is barely fleshed out --"scant attention" just
>> as you say. As for being 'boisterous', the rumors of drinking come
>> up early and there's a speculative scene where he very mildly hits
>> on Earhart while drinking the night before the last flight. He (the
>> character) apologizes the next morning and all is forgiven and
>> forgotten. Though that's all pure speculation, it wouldn't surprise
>> me if the issue had arisen at some point during the circum-
>> navigation given Earhart's well-known extra-marital activities and
>> given the amount of time they spent together. Like I say, it's not
>> played in the film as salacious gossip. It simply calls attention
>> to something that every viewer has to be thinking.
>>
>> I think the square door I thought I saw, and mentioned previously,
>> was a perspective trick. I checked the trailers online, hoping for
>> a shot of Noonan's navigation station with the pelorus, and saw a
>> different angle on the door --not square.
>>
>> -FER
>>
>>
>>
>> >
>
>
> >


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