NavList:

There have been a few posts about this WWII sextant which used an air-driven gyroscope as an artificial horizon. It seems similar to the Plath SOLD, and I gather it was developed for aircraft, but was found to be quite useful at sea, since gyroscopes don't respond to lateral acceleration the way bubbles do. The most explanatory link I found is here (try the Google translation below it -- paste without newlines):

http://www.rznav.at/luftfahrt_site/index_luftfahrt_013.html

http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.rznav.at/luftfahrt_site/index_luftfahrt_013.html&ei=2GShS4DyFqX20wTSyPybDA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBMQ7gEwAg&prev=/search?q=kreisel-sextant&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=hB3&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official

Anyway, the engineering design seem to be the equal of the Mark IXA, and I'm intrigued as to the performance of a gyroscope instead of a bubble.

There seems to be an article from 1947 from Mary R. Hunt on the ION CD, but I was willing to pay $50, but not $25 + duty ($15) + £8 to have it sent to England. Does anyone know how this sextant compared in performance to the Mark IXA?

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