NavList:

Gary and I have discussed the possibility of doing another aerial celestial navigation flight experience during the Navigation Weekend in Mystic in early June (June 4-6). We've got most of the practical logistics worked out, but now we need to know if there are any interested "avigators" out there. How about it: would you like to try your favorite bubble sextant from a light plane while flying above scenic southeastern Connecticut? Would you pay $50-$75 for the experience of 20-30 minutes shooting the Sun and the Moon in the tradition of airborne celestial navigators from the middle of the 20th century? Gary will provide the instruction, and we will hire a local sightseeing service to do the flying. As most of you know, I drove to California for this experience in January, and if you're interested in air navigation or just the full history of celestial navigation in general, I HIGHLY recommend doing this. Plus this is one of those things where there's a pretty good chance that there won't be another soul on Earth, or actually "above Earth" doing what you're doing at that moment in time. Aerial celestial navigation has passed into history more completely than any other form of celestial navigation, and we better get some people trying it out in practice if we hope to preserve it in any meaningful way.

PLEASE, if you're interested in going flying, SPEAK UP. Post here or email me off-list. We need to know soon if there's sufficient demand for this.

Also for June, Gary will be doing two presentations during the Navigation Weekend. One will be devoted to his analysis of the celestial navigation during Amelia Earhart's fated last flight while another will cover the Bygrave and Gary's "Flat Bygrave". While some of this material has been covered in NavList posts, there's nothing like a live presentation to make things crystal clear.

Finally, I am working with the local historical society and trying to get a commemorative sign put up in Noank, which is a small village next to Mystic, marking the location where aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart was married to George Putnam (in a brief private ceremony at Putnam's mother's cottage in town). Little Noank made the front page of the New York Times the next day back in 1931 for this bit of celebrity news, but the event is nearly unknown in Connecticut. I'm trying to get something organized so we could have a sign placed with some sort of note indicating that it's sponsored by the "NavList online celestial navigation community" (or not --that's not critical) and maybe have some sort of ribbon-cutting during the Navigation Weekend. I may be looking for cash contributions for this sign. Please let me know off-list if you have any ideas.

The schedule for the Navigation Weekend is not yet settled, but I would emphasize that there, in addition to the aviation navigation that I'm highlighting in this post, there will be plenty related to marine celestial navigation, historic navigation, and navigation mathematics, including something on historical lunars by me, as usual. :-)

-FER

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