NavList:

Clint Crawford, you wrote:
"I am thinking it might get re-homed to someone with the knowledge and appreciation for what it is and how it works. Would any of you have any idea what it might be worth if I decide to go that direction?"

I assumed that was your plan from the beginning, no? If so, you don't have to hide your intentions. Lots of folks buy navigational items and then choose to re-sell them later, and naturally everyone wants the best possible return on their investment. The catch here is that the item is exotic and rare but also relatively unimportant historically (unless... see below). They only built a handful of these. They were tested and apparently the only thing anyone had to say about them was "watch out! they don't work well" (effectively). There's a long parade of mechanical devices that were built to solve the navigational triangle problem, but they mostly failed in the marketplace. Paper computation methods weren't all that difficult or time-consuming, and a machine could never succeed unless it was highly reliable and radically simple to use. This wasn't it.

So who would pay a large sum for an obsolete machine that was pulled from the "market" after a brief trial? Collectors of information technology and military hardware are likely buyers. What would they pay? There's no way to know. The machine is 'priceless' in the unfortunately literal sense that there is no price guidance. There's at least one report that one such device sold for $20,000 some years ago. Is that true? If that sale can be documented, that would surely help the collectors' bids today. Is there another buyer willing to buy at that price? Of course there is, even if that price is completely irrational. You just have to find them and make them feel good about their irrationality.

The device was almost entirely unimportant historically, but you made a key point right at the top with your first inquiry. You wrote:
"Howard Hughes used one of these on his around the world flight. [...] Also, how would I find out if this is the unit that Howard Hughes used?"

If it is true that only 24 were built, and if it is true that Howard Hughes used this exact model on his flight around the world, then there is, apparently, a greater than 4% chance that Howard Hughes fiddled those dials on the instrument you possess. So get out the CSI kit, and find that DNA! Seriously, you might be able to find biological proof that Howard Hughes used the computer that you now own. That might be a little far-fetched, but at minimum you can sell that 4%. If there's a one in twenty-four chance that this computer once flew with Howard Hughes, that may be enough to send the price into the stratosphere. :)

Frank Reed