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Navigators Dalton Computer.

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Old 10th Mar 2021, 11:20
  #21 (permalink)  
 
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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 .
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Old 4th Apr 2021, 11:53
  #22 (permalink)  
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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.
Douglas Protractor.
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Old 4th Apr 2021, 19:33
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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....
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Old 4th Apr 2021, 21:15
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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....
What is a "watcher on 'ADS-B'" ?
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Old 4th Apr 2021, 21:25
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Voyeur,one who watches,in this case,`watching the aircraft on ADS-B,same as you `watch` on FR24.....
FULL TITLE `GLOBE.ADSBEXCHANGE.COM.
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Old 12th Apr 2021, 14:02
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d

Thought I'd post this photo of my HARBEN COURSE AND DISTANCE CALCULATOR which I found in my shed this morning.Picked it up in a bric a brac shop a few years ago,never seen another.
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Old 16th Apr 2021, 18:01
  #27 (permalink)  
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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?
IIRC that was a Mk 5 and as said for fast jets. Over 40s tended to use the Mk 4.
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Old 16th Apr 2021, 19:08
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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?

Last edited by Fareastdriver; 18th Apr 2021 at 08:22.
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Old 2nd May 2021, 16:01
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Here are a couple of scans from AP1234 "Air Navigation Volume 1" Dated 1938/1939 and 1941if it helps:




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Old 2nd May 2021, 20:53
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IIRC the top is similar but there are no background rolling handles on that one. Tragically I think that they are lost. My sister in Florida has his WW II log books but no knowledge of equipment.
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