Multimedia Gallery
- Navigation Methods: Dead Reckoning
The pilot had to hold the control stick under the table while plotting with his other hand.
Navigators commonly felt that pilots and commanders did not fully appreciate their efforts. Their job was complex and not readily understood by others. “Hot rock” was period slang for “hotshot.”
Over thousands of years, Polynesians migrated across vast distances and spread their culture across the Pacific.
Airsickness was common among new navigators, who frequently had to look at the ground through drift sights and make calculations while maneuvering. Crosby suffered more than most, but it did not stop him from becoming one of the war’s top navigators.
This painting by Ludolf Backhuysen depicts three Dutch cargo ships.
A wartime chart of a commonly used ferry route.
This electo-mechanical system computed positions based on a series of dead reckoning inputs.
Pioneered Air Corps navigation technology
Navigator Albert Hegenberger facing rear and behind a semi-protective windscreen while making his celestial sightings.
Sailing without a chronometer, the Arniston crashed into reefs along the coast of South Africa and sank on May 30, 1815, killing about 340 people. Heading for the Horn of Africa, the ship’s captain headed north before he should have and slammed into the Lagullos Reef. The crew tried to save the ship, but it broke up in the sea, killing all the passengers and all but six of the crew.