INSTITUTE OF NAVIGATION ACTIVITY

Contact: The ION
Tel. 703-683-7101
Web: www.ion.org
June 24-26, 2002

ION 58th Annual Meeting & CIGTF 21st Bienniel Guidance Test Symposium: Hyatt Regency Hotel, Alberquerque, NM

September 24-27, 2002
ION GPS 2002 Meeting
Portland, Oregon

On the 75th anniversary of his grandfather’s historic first solo flight crossing the Atlantic from New York to Paris, Erik Lindbergh replicated the flight with ease knowing his position continuously and with certainty using GPS. Charles Lindbergh had earlier studied celestial navigation in preparation of his flight under the guidance of Captain P.V.H. Weems, USN (Ret.) deceased who was the co-founder of the Institute of Navigation. Erik Lindbergh completed his flight in about 17 hours (versus 33 1/2 hours for Chalres Lindbergh) and landed in Le Bourget airport outside Paris on May 2, 2002. In the interest of saving weight, Charles Lindbergh did not carry a sextant but relied on dead reckoning and did not carry a parachute. The Spirit of St. Louis, built of steel tubing, fabric and wood and flown by Charles Lindbergh had a cruise speed of 108 mph and cost $10,580. Erik Lindbergh’s aircraft, constructed of glass and carbon composite, had a cruise speed of 184 mph and cost $289,000. More on Erik Lindbergh‘s flight appears at http://www.xprize.org/education/lind_press.html. Charles Lindbergh’s flight is described in our link Navcerebrations under “Lucky Lindy.”

FEAR OF FLYING?

Isaac Asimov the prolific science and science-fiction writer was once invited to be the guest speaker at an inventor awards dinner. He declined the invitation in a letter to the chairman of the dinner by writing, “Thank you for inviting me to be your guest speaker for this dinner. However, I must decline your invitation as I do not fly nor do I take extended trips.” It seems Asimov transcended earthbound flying by his wondrous adventures in science - fiction writings.

SHACKLETON’S BOAT JOURNEY

We have recently been exposed to The Shackleton Journey to Antarctica in 1914-1916 both on PBS and cable television. This is the saga of the formidable Sir Ernest Shackleton, the leader of a valiant crew aboard the Endurance, attempting to cross the South Polar continent from sea to sea. This last remaining Antarctic challenge by sea for the Endurance crew reached its failure as the ship was squeezed and then crushed by the packed ice in the Weddell Sea. But Shackleton’s undaunted spirit and superb leadership prevailed in bringing his crew to safety as told in Shackleton’s Boat Journey by F. A. Worsley, Captain of the Endurance.

We find that it was Worsley’s incredible performance as the navigator that enabled the boat journey to successfully reach Elephant and Georgia Islands in the most hostile sea conditions. Ted Graser, our frequent contributor to this newsletter, reminds us of this inspiring unattributed quotation that appears on the backcover of the paperback edition of this book: “ For scientific discovery, give me Scott; for speed and efficiency of travel, give me Amundsen; but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.” But we must also pay our respects to the superb navigation skills of Captain F.A. Worsley.

BOOK TITLES GO CELESTIAL

Very often book titles are exotic to capture attention and increased sales for the books. In the thirties Henry Miller wrote the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. The titles came from the names given to the two small circles on the celestial and terrestrial spheres ~23.5 degrees north and south of the celestial and terrestrial equators respectively marking the maximum declinations of the sun north and south occurring during the summer and winter solstices. These two books were initially banned from publication in the US for their salacious content It is evident that Miller was conveying the climactic character of these books by choosing these extreme celestial events for the titles and at the same time obscuring the true content of the books from the general public by the choice of titles.

EARTHSHAPES CAN BE VIEWED AND PROCURED

The twelve hypothetical worlds known as the “Earthshapes” conceived in an historic flight to the North Pole by the author in 1968 appear under the link Navworlds at this site, at www.littongcs.com at Portney’s Ponderables under “What if...,”(winner of Scientium Award), seen in 100 countries at http://www.nrich.maths.org.uk/mathsf/journalf/dec99/art1/ and can be purchased at

McGraw - Hill http://www.mhteachers.com/cgi-bin/detail.cgi?isbn=1-56451-870-1

TREATMENT OF BYRD “ALONE ON THE ICE” BY NANCY PORTER

Nancy Porter of Nancy Porter Productions produced the “Alone on the Ice” a documentary on Admiral Richard Byrd for the PBS’s American Experiences series. I was interviewed by her in 1997. I had written the “Polar Flap” that analyzed Byrd’s flight to the North Pole that was published in the ION Journal in 1973 and is the basis for the ponderable by the same title that appears under Navcerebrations. She was given a copy of my analysis. Her first question was “Byrd was not a good navigator was he?” I had to defend his professionalism (he was a Naval Academy classmate of Capt. Weems and they often collaborated). My defense for Byrd’s obtaining the Pole within the state of the art of the instrumentation limitation of the era and a strong affirmation of the feasibility of making the Pole was not included in her documentary. More on Porter’s documentary “Alone on Ice,” appears at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/ice/. Among the critics of Byrd’s North Pole flight are Richard Montague in his book Oceans, Poles and Airmen (Random House, New York 1971), Bess Balchen at http://home.acadia.net/userpages/kikut/Bessbio.htm and Dennis Rawlins at http://www.lib.ohio-state.edu/arvweb/polar/flight/controversy.htm.

LEWIS AND CLARK BY UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

According to the treatment of the Lewis and Clark expedition by the University of Virginia at http://www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol/exhibits/lewis_clark/ch5.html, the team never found longitude nor was the lunar distance data unraveled at West Point. In my treatment of Lewis and Clark under Navcerebrations, they were able to find longitude using the equal altitude technique (as encouraged by their mentor) by carrying Greenwich time on their Arnold chronometer and using a less accurate watch for local time.

LBG NAVIGATOR’S LOG

When I wrote the “Lady Be Good” ponderable under Navcerebrations, Capt. Horace Turell , former WWII Eighth Air Force B-17 navigator, informed me that the LBG navigator’s log was included in an exhibit in the Air Museum at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio and in his visit there he had seen that that there were no entries on the inbound leg recorded in the log signifying that the navigator was lost. That was startling information and since my classmate Col. Walker A. Larimer, USAF (Ret.) lived in Fairborn, Ohio (home of the museum), he agreed to go to the museum and study the navigator’s log at the LBG exhibit for me. He viewed the log and took extensive notes that he sent me confirming the log’s contents as earlier reported by Turell. It was essential that such a discovery be verified for authenticity as it became a pivotal issue as to the basis of the disappearance of the LBG. I am thankful to both Capt. Turell and Col. Larimer for their confirmation that there were no entries for the inbound leg in the navigator’s log.

ENOLA GAY’S NAVIGATORS LOG FOR SALE

My friend Walt Larimer clipped an interesting article from a recent antique magazine relating to the Butterfields Summer Antique Arms Auction that includes the Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk Collection. Capt. Van Kirk was the navigator on the Enola Gay the

B-29 that released the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. Offered for sale are Van Kirk’s master chronometer, sextant, leather navigator’s valise, radio headset and his Colt 1911 pistol expected to fetch up to $72,000. His in - flight navigator’s log is expected to be sold for $350,000 an amount realized for the sale of Capt. Robert A. Lewis’ (Enola Gay’s co-pilot) flight log sold earlier in March by Christies in New York.

FROM POLE TO POLE (The Two-Pole Dream Comes True)

A long sought after goal of girdling the globe from pole to pole was achieved under the auspices of then Rockwell-Standard Corp. of Pittsburgh sparked by the interest of Col. W.F. Rockwell board chairman. A Flying Tiger Boeing 707-320G named the Pole Cat was supplied for this historic flight that began with a departure from Honolulu Nov. 14, 1965 and flown by two TWA veteran pilots, Fred L. Austin and Harrison Finch. It was through the dedication and perseverance of these two pilots that this flight was obtained. The record breaking flight was accomplished in the flying time of 51 hours and 27 minutes over an elapsed time of 62 hours and 27 minutes. Among the 39 notable passengers aboard this historic flight were Col. W.F. Rockwell, Lowell Thomas, Jr., Col. Bernt Balchen (of earlier polar fame) and Clete Roberts (journalist and TV anchorman).

The primary navigation was performed by a flight crew navigator using traditional techniques and instrumentation that included the periscopic sextant and gyro-compass and grid navigation techniques in the polar region. Onboard this flight was an inertial navigation system consisting of the LN-3 inertial unit integrated with the C-900 digital computer supplied by Litton Industries and three Litton engineers: Dr. David L. Bjorndahl, Peter Mesquita and James Furuya. The Litton team was conducting verification testing of the inertial navigation system for global navigation. The flight crew navigator’s position at the South Pole was 40 miles off. The Litton inertial navigation system was within 2 miles of the South Pole in comparison. The Litton inertial navigation system featured a wander azimuth mechanization that eliminated any singularities at the poles. The success of the Litton inertial navigation system in this historic two - pole global circumnavigation of the world hastened the recognition of the suitability and ultimate certification of inertial navigation as a sole means of navigation for commercial aircraft. More on this historic flight appears at

http://www.flyingtigerline.org/PoleCat.htm.