NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Navigation errors and Sahara crash 1952
From: Francis Upchurch
Date: 2015 May 31, 00:05 -0700
From: Francis Upchurch
Date: 2015 May 31, 00:05 -0700
re Gary's excellent 2010 summary, he questions whether the star charts for the periscope sextant were available in the 1952 air almanac.
I think the answer is yes they were (http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000499262) Just like the current air almanac. This one is US, but I think the UK one was the same?
Means the "navigator" was even more incompetent!
The accident report does mention that the "navigator" failed to pass the higher navigation exams after several re-sits!
The captain likewise failed several navigation exams! The co-pilot died of exhaustion and strain! (no mention of his actions during the accident! wonder whether he was involved with the errors?)
Lots of lessons about human frailty here!
Francis
