Leady,
Off thread, I know, but Bennett didn't seem to do too bad with his DR/Astro when he flew the London/Jo'Burg route. Never been done before.
He was, I'm sure you know, classed as a 'Master Navigator.'
This is probably a topic for a 'non-combative' discourse, and I certainly did not know he was resistant to DF/ADF.
But maybe there is a loose (loose) parallel in a distrust of automation in the current age as regards an inability to hand-fly and just hit VNAV at 1500 in the climb.
Modernity is all fine and beaut, but I wonder about the basic skills that you and your compatriots had and whether there is not a (tenuous) connection.
Do you think there's anyone around today that could replicate Gordon Vette's effort?
Right, or wrong, maybe Bennett dreaded a degradation in what he regarded in his age as a threat to the fundamentals. Who knows? And no argument.
That said, I will attempt to source that book on Amazon in my dotage.
Cheers