NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Brad Morris
Date: 2016 Apr 30, 10:44 -0400
Hello David
I came across an image of sextant use on the Graf Zeppelin in 1929!
It's on YouTube. The title is " Graf Zeppelin 1929 Around Globe Trip, Full Documentary". The link is https://youtu.be/d4jq7oRxw-g
At 48 minutes and 38 seconds, we see the navigator (?) holding his sextant, whilst taking an observation, purportedly over Siberia.
The image is attached. I note the large box-like structure by where the horizon mirror should be. Is that an artificial horizon?!?
Brad
Francis Upchurch wrote: In Chichester's 4 wartime cel nav teaching books, there is no mention of a box sextant, but book 4 has a page on an "Airship sextant" , which looks just like a good marine sextant with micrometer.
Francis. It’s interesting that that you’ve got Part 4 of the Observer’s Books. I’ve only got Parts 1, 2, and 3 (Issued to or bought by Plt Off Whapham at 2s 6p each). Mine only advertise three parts on the covers. Could you possibly photograph the pages in part 4 on airship navigation? Two interesting points I notice. I always thought Observer’s books were ‘of’ e.g. ‘The Observer's Book of Trees’, but these are books ‘on’. This is grammatically quite correct of course and a sign of more formal times. Also, it seems I’m not the only user of ‘Astro’ instead of ‘Celestial’; the great man did so too. DaveP
