NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Expedition Amelia
From: Hewitt Schlereth
Date: 2019 Oct 23, 15:58 -0700
From: Hewitt Schlereth
Date: 2019 Oct 23, 15:58 -0700
Robin, as I recall from the Long's book, Amelia and Fred left Lae with a wind from the left and somewhat ahead at 25 knots. Then they flew all night about 1000 miles w/o knowing whether the wind increased or decreased. So they could have been well east or west of Howland when they turned for their precomputed LOP.
The long range DF bearings on the TIGHAR chart suggest they were somewhat west and well south of Howland.
I have no idea of how good such long range RDF might be.
The other curious thing on the chart is the island named McKean. It's about 60 miles north of Nikumororo (Gardner). I'd not heard of it before, and just checked the Long book's index; not there either. I wonder if it was ever looked over.
Hewitt
