Originally Posted by
boguing
Thanks for the replies so far, and in particular to SpazSinbad for the lengths he's gone to.
I should have made it clear that my interest is in compasses used for steering. And, more specifically, the fact that I may have cornered a 'Walt'.
He claims to have flown Sea Vixens and also mentions Meteors. I had my doubts, so mentioned that I had an E2.B (a standby compass that he would probably have sat behind). He blustered a bit over what an E2.B might have been and so I told him it was a compass. His immediate response was to ask whether it was graduated in Mils or degrees, and went on to explain that you had to know which it was when being given a course to fly. At which point the rat became a bit smellier.
Have you bailed him up yet? If you feel like throwing another spanner in his works, ask him what is the difference between and E2B and an E2C
The aircraft compass system used in the Wessex HAS3 and the Sea King HAS1 was derived from the TSR2 and was a wonderful piece of kit in the Wessex, with a large cockpit display and easily flown to 1 degree increments. For some bizarre reason the same compass system in the Sea King saw the display replaced with a tiny instrument calibrated in 5 degree segments: made GCA and other IF work quite a challenge!
But always in degrees, as already opined by others.