NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: David Pike
Date: 2016 Nov 23, 11:52 -0800
Robin Stuart you wrote: Does anyone know why Lindbergh worked in statute miles? It would have been much easier to mark his track off in nautical miles? Was it because aviators of the day typically used land maps or that his instruments were calibrated in miles?
It appears to have been based largely on where you learned your navigation. Apparently the USN, RN, and RAF Coastal Command always used nautical miles. The USAAC and the rest of the RAF used statute miles until around the end of WW2. The change to nautical in the RAF is explained (including the relevant Air Ministry Orders) on pages 387 and 388 of Jeff Jefford’s excellent reference book “Observers and Navigators” see below. Many new and SH copies are currently available on eBay from as little as £19.49 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Observers-and-Navigators-And-Other-Non-pilot-Aircrew-in-the-RFC-RNAS-and-RAF-/401221127815?hash=item5d6aa48e87:g:baIAAOSwiDFYMXs6 . DaveP
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