NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Howard G
Date: 2021 Dec 8, 16:44 -0800
Hi David
Loving the information - really wetting my appetite - but new marine sextant is under the Xmas tree.
Talking about averagers - that is all I know - as an ex - air force navigator the averager was what gave me the best of a whole lot of single messy readings so to speak.
Whenever we took a shot the pilot ALWAYS came out of autopilot and flew the aircraft as accurately as possible - I cannot remember how long the averager ran - 3 minutes? - cannot remember - but on a long transit at 30,000 ft in smoothe air and clear sky - the averager was still essential because the aircraft always cycles through a slight roll and bank.
However, at low level - hunting subs in the pacific - all in a bristol frieghter - ceiling 10k - cloud and turbulaence was a norm.
I simply will miss the averager standing on solid ground.
Maybe I will get myslef a Kollsman - stand on the back of a ute driving along a road - just for interest - to see if I can still shoot a good shot.
Howard G
