Navigators Dalton Computer.
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: N . Daarset
Age: 68
Posts: 212
RogerB et al , thank you for a fascinating history lesson . Explaining things I took for granted when struggling to learn the inticacies of Dalton and Douglas ...
Not the oldest here , but my 1972 issue Dalton and Douglas still [ in normal times ] being used on a weekly basis instructing new students .
rgds condor .
Not the oldest here , but my 1972 issue Dalton and Douglas still [ in normal times ] being used on a weekly basis instructing new students .
rgds condor .
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Lincolnshire
Age: 77
Posts: 16,744
Originally Posted by Pom Pax
In the last picture the Armstrong Whitford Whitley Navigator on the chart between the Dalton Computer and the Straight Edge is a Dalton Protractor. This very useful tool is not an invention in the 30's by an Ivy League whizz kid but a true British piece of kit invented whilst still a Captain by Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Percy Douglas KCB CMG FRGS FRAS AICE (1 November 1876 – 4 November 1939) a British naval officer who specialised in surveying and was Hydrographer of the Navy.
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: east ESSEX
Posts: 3,863
For those who like to keep sharp,or just refresh their skills,if you are watchers on `ads-b`..pick an airliner,and `click``on it. the sidebar will come up with the aircraft`s performance,IAS /G /SPEED.HEIGHT .TEMPERATURE AND WIND,HDG/TRACK..put the numbers onto your `Confuser`,and see if you come up with `what the aircraft is doing, or work it all backwards....
not sure if it works on fltradar24....
not sure if it works on fltradar24....
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Reading, UK
Posts: 12,796
Originally Posted by sycamore
For those who like to keep sharp,or just refresh their skills,if you are watchers on `ads-b`..pick an airliner,and `click``on it. the sidebar will come up with the aircraft`s performance,IAS /G /SPEED.HEIGHT .TEMPERATURE AND WIND,HDG/TRACK..put the numbers onto your `Confuser`,and see if you come up with `what the aircraft is doing, or work it all backwards....
not sure if it works on fltradar24....
not sure if it works on fltradar24....
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Lincolnshire
Age: 77
Posts: 16,744
Originally Posted by staircase
My RAF computer looks the same as the normal issue model but the slide is only 19 cms., and the disc 9 cm diameter
Would that be of interest to you, or was the small version common?
Would that be of interest to you, or was the small version common?
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 5,123
My father joined the RAF as a Brat in 1927. Somehow he was elected for aircrew training in 1942 or thereabouts and was sent to the States, Pensacola to be exact, to be trained by the US Navy. He was taught to fly both planes and boats and also to dance which surprised my mother somewhat. In his possessions before he died were two Dalton type computers. One of these was mechanical. There was a long strip of metal with calibration marks that was pivoted at the top of the instrument. It had a groove in it so that a peg on the wheel would swing it from side to side dependent on what wind you were using. I tried this once and it would give you, with a fair amount of grunt an accurate drift/groundspeed product. The other was similar to the Dalton I was used to but was like a box with handles top and bottom that would motor the paper background to cater for for anything from PBY2s or B29s. Both disappeared in his last days, probably by a relative who has since died.
Has anybody seen any others like that?
Has anybody seen any others like that?
Last edited by Fareastdriver; 18th Apr 2021 at 08:22.
