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Re: Bill Morris' MHR1 reproduction
From: Bill Ritchie
Date: 2021 Jun 13, 22:56 +0100
From: Bill Ritchie
Date: 2021 Jun 13, 22:56 +0100
In "Alone over the Tasman Sea", Sir Francis wrote "The autumn was drawing to a close. Soon the stormy westerlies would set in across the Tasman. Contrary winds. And with a contrary wind Norfolk Island was out of range." So he wanted to depart (from Auckland/Parengarenga) as soon as possible, which turned out to be 28th March 1931. Even then, he had only had time to swing the compass on the approximate heading to Norfolk Island.
On that day, the Moon would have risen to only about 15 degrees at the time of reaching his turning point (28/0430UTC) for Norfolk Island. Had he been ready to depart three days earlier, the Moon altitude at that time would have been 33 degrees with a useful 78 degree difference in azimuths. Whether he would have used it is a different question.
Bill Ritchie
On Sun, Jun 13, 2021 at 5:02 PM Tony Oz <NoReply_TonyOz@fer3.com> wrote:
Dear Francis,
When I read Chichester's "Seaplane Solo" - the "careleness" word constantly rung in my mind.
Since he completed that journey alive - either he knew what he was doing, or the story he told us was specially crafted for more dramatisms.
No matter what - I admire his achievements!
Warm regards
Tony
60°N 30°E
