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Do we know what model of sextant they will be using?

Robert
----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Reed" 
To: 
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 12:45 AM
Subject: A Sextant and a Vickers Vimy


> Steve Fossett and Mark Rebholz will be flying  across the Atlantic from
> Newfoundland to Ireland sometime in the next few weeks  in a replica of a
> 1919
> Vickers Vimy, duplicating the flight of Alcock and Brown  in that year
> which was
> the first non-stop tansatlantic flight.
>
> Although  they will have the benefit of the best modern meteorological
> information,  Fossett and Rebholz plan to navigate with a sextant. From
> the May 30
> issue of  "Aviation Week & Space Technology":
> "  But Rebholz will be faithful  to Alcock and Brown's navigational
> pedigree,
> relying on a compass, watch,  nautical sextant with a bubble horizon
> (because
> the horizon won't always be  visible) and a drift indicator.
> 'I want to focus attention on the  achievement of Brown as a pioneer of
> aerial navigation,' he says. 'Anybody can  go buy a GPS from Radio Shack.
> That's no
> challenge.' "
> And:
> "   Still, a camera will record their progress on National Geographic's
> web
> site,  which prompts Vimy owner Peter McMillan to joke, 'Ironically,
> everyone
> in the  world will know exactly where they are even if they don't.' "
>
> The Vickers  Vimy is a First World War era British biplane which was
> designed
> as a bomber  though it apparently saw little action. Instead it made its
> fame
> in various  long-distance flights in the early history of aviation. This
> is
> the same Vimy  replica that flew from London to Adelaide in 1994.
>
> -FER
> 42.0N 87.7W,  or 41.4N 72.1W.
> www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars

   

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