Re: [IRCA] Mystery tone at 1610, 1020 and WWII

[Walter Salmaniw <salmaniw@xxxxxxx>]

A comment from a pilot, although relatively freshly minted.  When I trained, I trained without a GPS (that's too easy and shouldn't be relied upon 100% since systems fail).  Instead, we used VORs and ADF.  The latter are the beacons heard on LW, although the same process can be used on the MW band.  Obviously the VOR (VHF) is line of site, whereas the ADF is susceptible to the vagaries of propagation (and this is stressed in training, especially at dawn!).  If one is lost, the idea is to start circling and tune to several VOR or ADF stations for a fix and then triangulate your position.  I was always surprised to see how accurate this can be, even when just using ones fingers to approximate the direction on the map.  Of course I'm talking about less than 100 miles compared to the thousands that the boys in the aircraft of WW II had to do.  On that topic our CBC just aired a 2 part mini-series about the program to fly bombers to England during the early days of the war when vast numbers of ships (carrying aircraft) were being torpedoed).  It was a fascinating series and from what I could guess, quite historically accurate.  The take off point from this end was Gander, Newfoundland which at the time was the world's largest (apparently) airport when it was built in the late 30s.  Back then it was simply called Newfoundland Airport (which is what they used on the program).  The aircrew at the time were all recruited from the civilian world (including many Americans) and paid huge sums to ferry the bombers to the UK.  Later it was all taken over by the military.  They stressed on the program the navigation required (over the piloting skills).  Initially there was such a shortage of trained navigators that a single aircraft carried an experienced navigator for the whole group.  It wasn't made evident how frequently aircraft got lost, however, over the North Atlantic.  .......Walt Salmaniw, Victoria, BC


-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.15.23/591 - Release Date: 12/17/2006 3:17 PM



_______________________________________________
IRCA mailing list
IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca

Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers

For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org

To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx