NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: bubble sextant in U-2
From: Paul Hirose
Date: 2013 Jan 13, 09:57 -0800
From: Paul Hirose
Date: 2013 Jan 13, 09:57 -0800
Air Force Manual 51-40, "Air Navigation" vol. II (1955) has a section on fighter celestial navigation. This is likely the method used by the U-2 pilots. "With this technique, there is no plotting and very little computation requred in the air. All that need be done is to make an observation and compare the sextant readings with precomputed values for the time of the observation... Equipment required in flight consists of an accurate hack wattch, a sextant, and a worksheet similar to the one at right containing precomputed data. In flight, alternate series of course line and speed line celestial observations are taken." The manual also says, "In single place aircraft a dependable auto-pilot is an absolute necessity." (This manual is easy to find on eBay, but be careful. The 1955 edition is two volumes. Many sellers don't state the volume number. Celestial navigation is in vol. II. The 1959 edition is three volumes.) --