NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: David Pike
Date: 2020 Jan 25, 11:40 -0800
Gary LaPook wrote: In case anybody would like to obtain these fairly rare devices, now on ebay is a Polhemus computer, good for plotting fixes and more:
There are two separate items in this sale, the Polhemus and a RADAR Aid R-1 (VAID) 1970. If thinking of buying this, check with the seller first if there are any more bits to the Polhemus than those shown in the photographs. The pack as issued should have come with a pinkish plastic case, a set of instructions, at least six more latitude discs apart from the one shown, and a pad of celestial precomputation forms. If you intended to use it, it wouldn’t be much use without the correct latitude disc. You’d also need a degree in magic to work out how to use it without the 53-page instruction book.
The RADAR Aid R-1 (VAID) 1970 looks rather cunning. Does any reader know what it’s for? The rear face looks like a graphical resolver/compounder. The front face looks like some method of working directly with slant ranges in radar systems which don’t have plan range.
While following the link I came upon this Russian nav computer https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Soviet-Navigation-wind-meter-Aviation-aircraft-measuring-device-USSR/274136319194 . I’m tempted to put in a bid for it, but I’m a bit worried that it appears to glow in the dark. I’m wondering it this was built in during manufacture or if it acquired that property at some time during its long and varied career in the Eastern Bloc. DaveP
