NavList:

This is going to sound hokey. I read Chichester's book many years ago and that was where I first heard of the Bygrave slide rule, and everybody knows of my interest it now. I had felt a kinship to Chichester because I know what it is like to cross the ocean at ten thousand feet and 90 knots with only one propeller on the nose of my plane and a sextant in my hand. I was always impressed that he had managed to do this in an open cockpit biplane. In 2009 I was in England and had the chance to fly the same type of plane, a Gypsy Moth bi-plane, and I found out how difficult that type of plane is to keep under control so my admiration for Chichester went up a couple of notches. I had looked at Chichester's navigation before but I had never gone into the detail like I just did in response to Francis' question. Yesterday I used my Bygrave to repeat Chichester's computation and, there it was, the exact same values coming off my Bygrave that Chichester saw coming off of  his Bygrave on April 1, 1931 in the middle of the Tasman Sea. It really struck me, I was looking at the same reading he was looking at. It was a thrill. I told you this would sound hokey.

gl