NavList:

Hewitt Schlereth sent me a link to an article in the New York Times: Mike Sadler, Intrepid Desert Navigator in World War II, Dies at 103 [this link should provide open access, clear of paywall]. It's the amazing life history of an early-era "special forces" soldier in Africa eighty years ago. Among his skills, the article (largely quoting a source who wrote a biography of him a decade ago) informs us that he was a highly skilled navigator. Of course, the article can't quite decide whether this is magic or not. That's often the way with celestial navigation, of course. It has a natural magical "air" about it, but in truth it's dependent on robotic adherence to mechanical rules, and the best celestial navigators tend to be rule-following "good scouts". But that's no fun, so let's just say he had some magical instinct that enabled him to cross deserts and raid German airbases. There's a quotation in the article: "Desert navigation, like its equivalent at sea, is largely a matter of mathematics and observation, but the good navigator also relies on art, hunch and instinct". Well, which is it? Should I trust my "hunch" for the altitude of the Sun or perhaps base my value for the Sun's GHA on "instinct"? Sure, on an overcast day, you can look for moss on the north side of trees in the Libyan Desert... (there are trees in oases! ...and clouds have been seen!), but the real "secret sauce" of celestial navigation is that the science serves a healthy meal without that "dash of magic" added to the recipe.

Frank Reed
PS: Speaking of Hewitt, over the next few weeks, I will be helping him sell some navigation equipment including a variety of fine slide rules and a number of classic navigation computers that he used in the many classes he taught. I'll be posting links (ebay probably) occasionally so that NavList members have early access to any auctions. Keep an eye out!