Sight Reduction Tables

May I tell you I was a very relieved bunny when I was shoved into the nightfighter world and discovered that the Air Mystery had failed to specify astrodomes in their night fighters.

Mystery being the operative word! The bods who called for the specs of the planes were definitely not the same people who drew up the tables then….

I did astronomy and therefore spherical trig at university, but the tables are indeed mind boggling. I take my hat off to the navigators. Too bad those days are gone.:)

May I tell you I was a very relieved bunny when I was shoved into the nightfighter world and discovered that the Air Mystery had failed to specify astrodomes in their night fighters.

IIRC there were two volumes, identified by a Red or a Yellow band on the cover.

exmpa

I did astronomy and therefore spherical trig at university, but the tables are indeed mind boggling. I take my hat off to the navigators. Too bad those days are gone.:)

Ralph, Hi,
If the document was published by ‘Her Majesty’s Stationery Office’ (HMSO in them days!) then it was available to both the military and civilians. The military (mainly the RAF) got their copies “free” from No 1 AIDU (Air Information Documentation Unit?) at RAF Northolt. Civilian operators could buy such volumes as they might need on the open market from one of the HMSO commercial outlets. If it had been an ‘RAF only’ document then the likelihood is that it would have been an Air Ministry (or MoD) document.
Whilst I understand the physics behind astro-nav, I regret to have to admit that the maths are beyond me (or were, before computers!!)
HTH
Resmoroh

Never mind Resmoroh. We were taught all this at nav school and told it was spherical trigonometry. It was all absolutely and totally beyond my General School Cert maths. I could however fumble through the fancy tables, I think we had to carry the Air Almanac and the sight reduction tables, and even produce a position line in roughly the right place. We were allowed 20 mins to do a 3 star fix.
I always remember the ribbing one of my colleagues got. We did triangular tracks about 100 miles each leg. His 3 star fix with his tracks on the chart were a very good imitation of the Star of David.

Ralph, Hi,
If the document was published by ‘Her Majesty’s Stationery Office’ (HMSO in them days!) then it was available to both the military and civilians. The military (mainly the RAF) got their copies “free” from No 1 AIDU (Air Information Documentation Unit?) at RAF Northolt. Civilian operators could buy such volumes as they might need on the open market from one of the HMSO commercial outlets. If it had been an ‘RAF only’ document then the likelihood is that it would have been an Air Ministry (or MoD) document.
Whilst I understand the physics behind astro-nav, I regret to have to admit that the maths are beyond me (or were, before computers!!)
HTH
Resmoroh

It is volume 2 that I found, too bad there is no name in or on it. The very first page appears to be missing. I will try find a copy of the book you mention, thanks T-21.

The French and Swedish Red Cross were flying food into Biafra from Libreville in 1968/9 using DC-4(Air Fret) and DC-6, DC-7 CF(Jack Malloch. A good book on this history is “Shadows” Airlift and Airwar in Biafra and Nigeria.by Michael Draper Hikoki 1999.
Most likely to have used sun and star shots as nav- aids and radar coverage was poor in that area and involved long sector flying hours over sea mostly.

I have both volumes in the loft. My father passed a GCE “O” level in Astro-Navigation in the late sixties and practiced with the sextant on night navex’s in Varsities out of RAF Strubby. Could the Gabon book be a left over from the Biafra airlift day’s when Lockheed Connies and Dc-7C’s were still night flying ?

These were for use by navigators using a sextant to obtain position lines fron the sun or stars etc. I thought astro navigation had been forgotten by the late 60s. A three star fix is a fun procedure if anyone has tried it.