I move that bilbobaggins...

[Twister_Ken]

... is officially declared an outstanding scufflebutt blackbelt threadspinner and all-round good teabag, and that he/she* should be awarded the freedom of the City of Scunthorpe.

* delete as applicable

 

[BrendanS]

I'll need a very good reason to award that ahead of spinmeister T25?

 

[Twister_Ken]

In support of the motion I cite:

I'd really like some well-informed opinion on a wee technical matter to do with star-sight planning. No, really. That's what this forum is intended for, allegedly.....

Y'see, a large part of the astro fixing I did while air-nav'ing required one to plan, shoot and plot multi-shot 'sandwich fixes' ( such as ABABABA ), with the azimuths oriented about 0º/90º Along and Across the track. AP3270 Vol 1 - 'Selected Stars' facilitates this, so the pre-planning was swift ( important in a 600-knot aircraft ) - as Sir Francis Chichester held, 'cos he wrote the book on this. Literally!

The naval tradition, I understand, was to stand around in groups taking aim at seven or more assorted stars dotted all around the horizon. Those Seaman Officers on the port wing bridge would get some of 'em, as the metal/wood/glassfibre was in the way, while those Engineer and RM Officers on the starboard wing bridge would get the rest of 'em - cloud, gunsmoke, cigar smoke and mountains permitting.

Of course, the Navigator's Yeoman would do the pre-computing of sights, lay out the sight forms and pencils, and clean up the ashtrays afterwards, while Their Lords High Panjandrums would repair to the wardroom and 'compare notes' until a consensus was reached ( The 'Least Squares' or 'First Percentile' methods - or 'Reductio Ad Absurdum' in earlier times ) and a celebratory gintonic ( 'Rumbumaccordion' in Nelson's navy ) was declared.

After all, in an unhurried age and slow-witted navy, they could always come back tomorrow to check......

That is, I'm unreliably told, is the source of today's 'Zero to Hero' practice of hordes of ZtH Ocean Yotmeister candidates assembled in 3 or 4 of the RYA Sea School boats licensed to do 'Qualifying Passages' whipping out from behind Ushant on a quiet day, rattling off a quorum of sun merpasses ( one, just one! ), adding up all the numbers and dividing by the number you first thought of, then plotting the instructor's 'Intercept' anyway. Old traditions die hard.....

But why bother with pre-computing 'a round' of seven or more sights, with all the complexities of guesstimating an MPP and editing out the two or three weak stars that were misidentified, when a really good two-star, seven-shot Sandwich Fix based on two big, fat, unmistakable First Order stars, was faster to pre-compute, faster to average and plot - and a good deal more accurate?

Or was it 'not invented here'?

I put down my valise.

 

[fflakey]

You'll have to speak up..

.. He used to be in Shackletons

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[Sixpence]

Had a couple of flights in Shackletons myself , immensely enjoyable they were too /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[BlueSkyNick]

But there is already one **** in Scunthorpe !!

 

[claymore]

Well - it Typhoo put the tea in Tetleys......

 

[jimbaerselman]

Tried to speak to an ex Shackleton pilot last weekend. Once he'd tuned in his ear trumpet, all he could say was:

'Flying in close formation with 40,000 rivets has ruined my earsight'

 

[Blueboatman]

I think that all stars should be treated equally,including those of the constallation Scunthorpius.

 

[Sixpence]

Eh . What . Can't hear what you're writing old chap
Seriously though , they were after all , knocked up fast to do a job that they did do extremely well , and were then kept in service long after thier design intended them to be , so I suppose noise reduction wasn't thought to be overly important

 

[Sans Bateau]

Bit unfair on Scunthorpe!

 

[Lakesailor]

Nothing is unfair on Sunny Scunny

 

[bilbobaggins]

Aw, shux (3)!

"Is this the Mother of all Trolls", do I hear? Well, maybe. And yet again, maybe not. .....Something in there for just about everyone, methinks.

And the core question ( Whazzat? ) remains. It was actually a preoccupation of Chichester's - one of many - for he actually did 'write the book', the RAF Manual of Air Navigation, in large part. Does the assembly know that many RAF strike aircraft - Victors, Vulcans, Canberras, Hercules, Nimrods and Shacks - were actually fitted with periscopes? Just like our strike submarines.... but a bit smaller. Star-sight fixing was done through them, to a considerable degree of precision.

As for the venerable ShackleBomber...... 600knots ......no, I don't think so, 'fflakey'. Not more than once....

[ QUOTE ]
The only aircraft to have a calender fitted instead of an Air Speed Indicator; which didn't file a flight plan to notify it's movements to a destination, but sent a postcard; the long wire dangling out the back was not an HF aerial, but a mackerel spinner; they were out so long on patrol that they had to germinate seeds to prevent scurvy.....

[/ QUOTE ]

As for BrendanS' query regarding merit and precedence over, say, TreveraT25, the answer is quite simple. 'Bilbobaggins' comes rather earlier in the alphabet - and gets out of bed earlier. Allegedly.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch. Would anyone care to take up the cudgels in respect of ZtH Ocean Yotmeister candidates, transfer of 'morning timed sights' position lines by meridional parts, Captain Sumner's close association with the South Bishop Light, and the decline of the erect star telescope? See me afterwards....

'Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad' - Alfred E Neumann

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[bilbobaggins]

[ QUOTE ]
knocked up fast to do a job that they did do extremely well

[/ QUOTE ]

Er, anyone in particular....?

Don't fancy yours!

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[Sixpence]

Yours looks to be a bit of a porker too though /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif and less of the cheek re early out of bed ya old sod /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif at least I don't need to dye my hair yet /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Twister_Ken]

As they've got wings, does that mean they are pilotesses?

 

[bilbobaggins]

'All together now - "I'm Spartacus!".....'

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif


Actually, I think I like the cuddly one!

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[tugboat]

I reckon your nom-de-plume is thinly disguising the fact that you are really Christopher Biggins. Having discovered via another thread that Bernard Manning was not unfamiliar with boats, I'm ready to believe anything!
Yours gullibly, TB.

 

[Searush]

The one with the boxer's chin & broken nose (3rd one in) frightens me to death!

 

[Sixpence]

The fact that Billbo fancies one of them scares the absolute crepe out of me