Further to my previous posts on Britannia navigation, I can only vouch for the BOAC nav fit and I forgot to mention the ocean weather ships - small ships (not much bigger than a trawler) remaining on station far out in the Atlantic, primarily there to make weather observations. But we could also call them up and use their NDB and their radar for a fix. You called them on VHF, they gave their position based on an alpha/numeric grid. You plotted their position and could then use the fix they gave you (bearing and range from the ship) to plot a fix - very useful when all else had failed - too much cloud for astro and/or bad LORAN reception.
The poor guys on the weather ships led a rough life, particularly in bad weather. I forget how long they remained on station, I think for several months at a time. It was a lonely life - we used to get the stewardess with the most sexy voice to chat them up on the VHF. I don't know whether this made their plight better of worse!!
India Four Two is right about Consul being a German navigation aid for U-boats.
In answer to Zebedie - there was no drift sight.
In addition to taking fixes and keeping an airplot as I have already described, the navigator worked out a PNR and a Critical Point on every navigation leg. He also kept a fuel howgozit on a graph. I seem to remember the vertical axis was the fuel on board, the horizontal axis the distance showing the major reporting points - 20W, 30W, 40W, 50W, Gander etc. to destination. A typical night's work would be London-Manchester-Prestwick-New York, but Prestwick-New York was at the limit of the Brit's range. Therefore, it was fairly usual to do a re-clearance operation - flight plan Boston with New York as alternate and then see how you got on. If the winds were suitably favourable you continued to New York, if not you stopped at Boston to refuel before carrying on. Sometimes you stopped at Gander or Goose Bay to refuel.
While still over the ocean (usually before 50W) it was the navigator's job to show on the howgozit whether or not it was necessary to stop for fuel or continue to destination. The howgozit was an invaluable tool for this. If you had to stop, the navigator then got busy, while still in the air, completing a hand done fuel flight plan to destination showing the fuel that needed to be uploaded at the stop - Gander, Goose, Halifax or Boston, as the case might be.
It was a fairly busy half hour or so. Then, decision made, you climbed into the crew bunk for 3 hours of blissful sleep until top of descent into New York. The crew bunk was on the starboard side in the plane of the propellers which gave you a free vibro-massage.
All very different from these days of INS, FMS, GPS etc, etc. I am so glad I saw the last of the trans-Atlantic propeller operations.
Last edited by Bergerie1; 3rd Sep 2013 at 10:44.