Some aircraft parts I picked up in Lincoln

[DogTailRed2]

Can anyone tell me what these gauges do, are for?
This one from a Victor.


This one from a Valiant.


I'll post more pics and the serials etc later.

[HOVIS]

Top one looks like a fuel gauge.

[NineEighteen]

And the second one says ‘DECCA’ which is a defunct radio navigation system. Vaguely recall it coming up in my ATPL theory.

0918

[Cornish Jack]

Manufacturer's name on the second pic gives the clue - Decca control box with 'chain' selection ... presumably, there would have been a set of three lane meters somewhere as part of the display ?

[DogTailRed2]

Originally Posted by NineEighteen

And the second one says ‘DECCA’ which is a defunct radio navigation system. Vaguely recall it coming up in my ATPL theory.

0918

I was wondering if CHAIN has anything to do with the Chain Home radar network?
BTW is DECCA the same DECCA as in the records?

[Uplinker]

I think I know the shop you went to. I looked in the window many years ago, but managed to stop myself going inside; knowing the damage that might do to my wallet !

[John Hill]

The DECCA system consisted of three slave transmitters arranged in a triangle with a master station in the middle, this ensemble was called a DECCA 'chain'.

[ShyTorque]

What a coincidence! I was dusting my bedroom shelf only ten minutes ago and the green Decometer I bought (sentimental reasons only) from RAF Puma XW222, which I used to fly many years ago.

My wife asked me about it and I briefly explained how we had to to use DECCA, which wasn’t really designed to be used at 140kts at low level. Far too slow and inaccurate to be of tactical use (a bit like me).

We had a procedure where our crewman could carry out a DECCA letdown as an airfield approach. Done properly, when atmospheric/magnetic errors weren’t messing things up, they were at least as accurate as some SRAs.

Thank goodness for GPS….

[radeng]

Originally Posted by munnst

I was wondering if CHAIN has anything to do with the Chain Home radar network?
BTW is DECCA the same DECCA as in the records?

Iit was the same Decca. They had a number of various specialist companies including a radar company, a communications company and MARNS (Mandatory Air Radio Navigation Systems) who amongst other things, manufactured NDBs. The Decca Navigator system was used for the D-day landings because of its accuracy, which I read was needed to get landing craft to the right spots where mines had been cleared. Post war, it was used in aircraft - there were various Decca chains ( a chain was three stations) throughout much of the world. It was used a lot by fishermen, with coverage up into the White Sea. Decca never sold the receivers but rented them out. When the patents ran out and other companies started providing cheap competition, Decca announced theyw ere shutting the Decca chain transmitters down: this caused such an uproar that the UK government paid Decca to run the chains for a year or two. They've all been gone for well over 25 years now.. Another Decca navigation system was HiFix, which got used in several parts of the world for accurate surveying for oil exploration in the days before GPS. Decca went bust, pulled down - I believe if my memory is correct., by losses on the recording side. Racal got the rest, but now they've gone and I think that whatever is still left is now Thales..

[Sallyann1234]

As radeng said. The last bits of Decca were taken over by Thales until they finally became obsolete.
Just another of the many great British radio/electronics companies that no longer exist, many killed by incompetent management.

[ShyTorque]

This still has its ‘Serviceable’ label. Removed from XW222 in 1995

[teeteringhead]

We had a procedure where our crewman could carry out a DECCA letdown as an airfield approach.

And it always seemed to be down the Green G30 lane .......

Well, it did at ODIZ and ALDZ IIRC...............

[inbalance]

Originally Posted by NineEighteen

And the second one says ‘DECCA’ which is a defunct radio navigation system. Vaguely recall it coming up in my ATPL theory.

0918

There has been a modern unit called AP Navigator.
It worked like a modern GPS, but lagged a Database. So one had to use coordinates that could be stored in a 10 waypoint database.
I only recall one Cessna thatwas equipped with it.
That would have bern in the late 90s

DECCA was designed for maritime use.
Thats the reason the transmitter where located near the shorelines only and the range was limited.

[Asturias56]

"Another Decca navigation system was HiFix, which got used in several parts of the world for accurate surveying for oil exploration in the days before GPS. "

Ho Ho Ho "accurate" - well it was better than nothing but it often gave people a mistaken idea that they were in exactly the right place...........

[NutLoose]

Hey Shy, I have the end of a Puma collective floating around, I bought some ally tube to fit it to and hope eventually to get all the switches etc working for a PC flight sim.

[NutLoose]

Originally Posted by ShyTorque

What a coincidence! I was dusting my bedroom shelf only ten minutes ago and the green Decometer I bought (sentimental reasons only) from RAF Puma XW222, which I used to fly many years ago.

My wife asked me about it and I briefly explained how we had to to use DECCA, which wasn’t really designed to be used at 140kts at low level. Far too slow and inaccurate to be of tactical use (a bit like me).

We had a procedure where our crewman could carry out a DECCA letdown as an airfield approach. Done properly, when atmospheric/magnetic errors weren’t messing things up, they were at least as accurate as some SRAs.

Thank goodness for GPS….

Here you go, have a matching PTR175…

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133601613...Bk9SR_KLxrW9Yg

[Sallyann1234]

Originally Posted by inbalance

DECCA was designed for maritime use.
Thats the reason the transmitter where located near the shorelines only and the range was limited.

That was HiFix.

[Cornish Jack]

When I started Whirlwind S&R, Decca was a standard fit. Used carefully, it was an excellent bit of kit and, as Shy pointed out, it could be set up for self-generated SRAs. Valley was particularly suited, as the main runway had a 'lane' line directly oriented , so the range countdown was simple on one of the other decometers. Thorney flight did three callouts on a really grotty day and all the nav was via Decca.
A secondary part of the system was Dectra - a 'moving map' display, coaming mounted, but limited uptake for civvy use only.

[ShyTorque]

RAF Pumas had the DECCA moving map system in the early days. To make it work, it used a bizarre, distorted map with a spring finger which just pointed to where the aircraft was. No doubt it would have been great on a ship.

DECCA TANS (Tactical Air Nav System) came next and used DECCA info to update its position. Just ten waypoints, in lat/long which were deleted from memory when the aircraft was next de-powered.

”Super TANS”, which was GPS based, replaced that.

[ShyTorque]

Nutty,

I thought about donating my Decometer to Newark Air Museum when I was informed that they had obtained a Puma. I went down to see it and realised it would be pointless in view of the fact that it didn’t even have an instrument panel! It’s little more than a bare shell.