Vickers Varsity astro compass
 

I found in my late fathers possessions an Astro compass. Not sure why as he was in TCW at Brize in the 70/s. A typical scavenger. It had some writing under the bubble housing. WF380 TF/NU 21,3,69. Any history of that plane and the meaning of abbreviations and date please. Trying to find out the compasses origins as well. Astro compass MK2A serial no 657 ref 6B/399 Other markings not sure of meaning are KHI-R-I0-63 any help or direction would be much appreciated. Thankyou

I flew in WF380 with No 1 Air Navigation School RAF Stradishall on 7 May 1963. It ceased as a Nav Trainer in 1966 but some remained in service till 1976. That 1969 my be a servicing date.

WF380 served with 201 AFS, 1 ANS, 2 ANS, 5 FTS, 2 ANS (again) and 6 FTS. Struck off charge in March 1971 and given to the Fire Section at Coningsby by July of that year to play with, where it survived until 1973.

Photo of WF380 here
https://www.google.com/search?q=wf38...Zdg553idonyH3M

I wonder if the KH markings refer to manufacturer Kelvin Hughes (subsequently part of Smiths Industries), perhaps a repair date?

Varsities were certainly still in use at Stradishall in 1967 when I went to summer camp there although I didn't fly in one; being a Cadet WO, I was allocated for a Dominie flight. I believe No 1 ANS moved to Gaydon shortly after this but I can't find a date.
Varsities were still in use in 1971 at Topcliffe for training SNCO Air Engineers and at Oakington for multi engine training and in 1972 at Strike Command Bombing School at Lindholme.
We had several at Farnborough when I arrived there in 1974 and once a week or so, a Varsity with callsign 'Bluebell One' would call Farnborough ATC on a local flight from West Malling (maintenance base?) until about mid 1975. One of the Farnborough Varsities was used until about 1979 for development of of FLIR and LLTV systems (mounted to 'look' though the optically flat windows in the 'bomb bay') which eventually led to NVGs.

Yes, Short Brothers had a facility at West Malling where they serviced Varsities (and Chipmunks) and also used the Varsity for various trials involving FLIR, LLTV, etc.

Until 1971, Varsities were also overhauled by Brooklands Aviation at Little Staughton.

The only time I have flown a Varsity was in 1975 when I was the guest pilot of the Aldergrove Maintenance Unit's aircraft. I, regrettably, have forgotten the name of the captain, who was , I believe, Polish. I did the take off, went back to assess the ADF readings on the way to Leuchers to pick up the MU's Phantom crew who had just delivered an ex RN Tomb.

The MU closed in 1975 and I did the last full power engine runs on a Provost T1 WV494 that they used for marshalling practice.

Quite possibly Joe Kmiecik, A small, wiry man, with a great sense of humour. I did the Varsity refresher at Oakington in '73, and he was on the course then. I believe he had been a prisoner of the Russians until Barbarossa. He flew one of the Lancasters in "The Dam Busters" film..

No not him. This one was quite well built.

As a matter of curiousity, when was the Astro compass removed from the basic nav syllabus? I remember seeing the device; stowed on all the nav school aircraft; but cannot recall it being used. Heading checks were carried out using the sextant.

YS

That aircraft was still at Farnborough in the early 1980s and is now at Cosford https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documen...sity_WL679.pdf There was some sort of RAE families day c.1984 - we were able to board the aircraft and see video of the FLIR images.

Where was it stored?

I reckon I could probably set it up and certainly use it even after last doing so 62 years ago to take a running fix on Lampedusa's lighthouse.

I saw a tape of it doing circuits at Farnborough prior to trying a landing on the unlit runway. Everything was OK with a beautiful clear image until they lowered the undercarriage and the nosewheel blocked the view from the sensors!

They did that with a Puma at Pershore testing similar equipment. I had the station commander and a load of VIPs jumping up and down by my planned landing spot whilst doing a heads down wheels up approach at Odiham.

Regarding 1 ANS, it was still at Stradishall in 1969 (not 1967 as I first misremembered) when I did a refresher on Dominies.

The Astro compass and the Mk 9 sextant were taught at 2 ANS in 1962. As the Mk 9 was hand held it had no ability to check azimuth. The astro compass, as mentioned above could also measure visual bearings as well a aircraft heading. At 1 ANS we were introduced to the Mk 2 Periscopic Sextant. The astrodome had to be removed and a plate with sextant mounting put in its place. I think we usually put the plate in on the ground before doing night astro sorties. I seem to remember that occasionally we would swap these over in flight.

I've got one of these.....marked A.M. (Air Ministry?) Astro Compass MkII 6A/1174 Believed to date from the 40s or 50s...
This is what it looks like...


Out of interest how easy was it to take a star shot in a vibrating propellor driven aircraft? How accurate did you expect the fix to be?