NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: John Blake
Date: 2017 Aug 5, 09:08 -0700
The earliest Polhemus computer (celestialcircular slide rule) was manufactured in 1962 and didn't make its way into the B52 fleet before I finished my experience with them in 1965. I don't know whether the Polhemus was used in B52s after that time. During my years, we carried the big sight reduction tables, HO249 for stars and two volumes of HO229 for Sun, Moon and planets. Also of course we carried the current Air Almanac. The Polhemus would have reduced our baggage load by several pounds. When I taught the celestial navigation course, one of my students had a Polhemus in its original packaging, but I didn't have the time nor inclination to learn how to use it then. On the internet, the Polhemus is described as a Vietnam-era device. I'm sure it started to be taught in the nav schools about then, but I can't verify that.
