NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Flying to Antarctica
From: Brad Morris
Date: 2019 Jan 20, 20:30 -0500
From: Brad Morris
Date: 2019 Jan 20, 20:30 -0500
If not mistaken, the green arrow points to the radio mast and the red arrow points at the porthole for the periscopic sextant.
The periscope couldn't be that tall, nor of a shape to withstand load (crossed beams). It must therefore be a fixed mast.
Less sure is the porthole. Undoubtedly a reinforced circular aperture in the roof of the plane. But is it for a sextant? I can't think of much else that would be for.
On Sun, Jan 20, 2019, 8:03 PM David C <NoReply_DavidC@fer3.com wrote:
The closest I came to Antarctica was in 1970 when I was living in Christchurch. I had read in a newspaper that a Lockheed Constellation was due to take off for Antrctica the next day. I was keen to see a Constellation in flight so at the appropriate time I positioned myself at the end of the east/west runway 11/29. I chose this spot because there was a very strong north-westerly blowing. Unfortunately the Connie took off cross-wind from the longer north/south runway 02/20.
The next day I heard that the aircraft had crashed on landing at McMurdo.
Have a look at https://aviation-safety.net/photos/displayphoto.php?id=19701008-0&vnr=2&kind=C
Is the vertical object a mast for a radio aerial or is it a periscopic sextant?
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