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  • Navigating
    at Sea
    • Challenges of Sea Navigation
    • Navigating Without a Clock
    • The Longitude Problem
    • The U.S. Goes to Sea
    • Navigate at Sea! Activity
  • Navigating
    in the Air
    • Challenges of Air Navigation
    • Early Air Navigators
    • Navigation at War
    • Navigate the Skies! Activity
  • Navigating
    in Space
    • Challenges of Space Navigation
    • Reaching for the Moon
    • Navigating in Deep Space
    • Navigate in Space! Activity
  • Satellite Navigation
    • Challenges of Satellite Navigation
    • Reliable Global Navigation
    • Global Positioning System (GPS)
    • Who Uses Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation
    for Everyone
    • Meet a Professional Navigator
    • Personal Navigation Stories
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research
  • Visit the Exhibition

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Time and Navigation
The untold story of getting from here to there.
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  • Navigating at Sea
  • Navigating in the Air
  • Navigating in Space
  • Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation for Everyone
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research Journal
  • Visit the Exhibition
  • Challenges of Air Navigation
    • Flying Boats Cross the Seas
    • Overcoming the Challenges
      • Celestial Navigation
      • Radio Navigation
      • Dead Reckoning
    • Navigate the Skies! Activity
  • Early Air Navigators
    • Dying to Set Records
    • Charles Lindbergh's Calculated Risk
    • The Business of Air Navigation
      • The Teacher: P. V. H. Weems
      • The Air Navigation Community
      • Radio Time for Aviation
    • Lindbergh's New Tools
    • Two Men in a Hurry
      • The Winnie Mae
      • Meet the Navigator: Harold Gatty
    • Navigation Gone Wrong: Amelia Earhart
  • Navigation at War
    • The Wartime Navigator
      • Harry Crosby
      • Tools of the Trade
    • Naval Aviation
      • Meet the Navigators: WAVES
    • A New Era in Time and Navigation
      • Hyperbolic Systems
      • LORAN
      • Meet the Clockmaker: Alfred Loomis
  • Navigate the Skies! Activity

Explore More

Kaster Spherant »
Clarence Chamberlin and Charles Levine »
Francesco de Pinedo and Carlo del Prete »
Lt. Harry H. Crosby »
Harold Gatty »

Navigation at War

World War II drove the United States to develop new navigational technologies on an unprecedented scale.

Celestial navigation was not well suited for use in all-weather military operations or by the tens of thousands of inexperienced young navigators entering military service. To remedy this, Great Britain and the United States created complex radio navigation systems that used advances in timing technologies and electronic computing. These systems revolutionized navigation.

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Link A-12 Sextant
The Link A-12 Sextant represented a new generation of “averaging” sextants.
Credit: National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

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AAF Special Air Navigation Chart (S-145), Stephenville to Reykjavik, 1946, Scale 1:3,000,000
A wartime chart of a commonly used ferry route.
Credit: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

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AN 5740 Master Navigation Chronometer
One of the most common navigation watches produced, with many used by the U.S. military well into the Cold War era.
Credit: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

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Harry H. Crosby as 100th Bomb Group Navigator
After the harrowing losses of 1943, Crosby and his fellow crew members found less opposition in 1944 and 1945. However, navigational challenges increased as missions moved deeper into central Europe.
Credit: Rebecca Crosby Hutchinson

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Harry H. Crosby's Wrecked B-17 Just a-Snappin (Ill.)
On October 8, 1943, the 100th Bomb Group targeted the heavily defended German industrial city of Bremen. The amazing tale of survival of Crosby and his crew drew media attention.
Credit: Rebecca Crosby Hutchinson

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B-3 Drift Meter
A standard military drift sight through the World War II and early Cold War eras.
Credit: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

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Chart, Pilots Reference Strip 955-C, San Cristobal to Buka Island, 1943
Charts like this were used by Navy pilots throughout the Pacific.
Credit: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

clipper_pilots_train_cadets_in_navigation_-_dinner_key_1940_-_rko_pathe.mp4

Clipper Pilots Train Cadets in Navigation [Run Time 0:55]
Air Corps navigation training
Credit: National Archives and Records Administration
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  • The Wartime Navigator »

    Harry Crosby served as lead navigator for the 100th Bomb Group, Eighth Air Force, in the war-torn skies of Europe.

  • Naval Aviation »

    Naval aviators launching from aircraft carriers had a challenge not experienced by their land-based peers—their airfield moved while they were away.

  • A New Era in Time and Navigation »

    In World War II, navigators began switching from mechanical time to frequency-based time systems.

  • Navigating at Sea
    • Challenges of Sea Navigation
    • Navigating Without a Clock
    • The Longitude Problem
    • The U.S. Goes to Sea
    • Navigate at Sea! Activity
  • Navigating in the Air
    • Challenges of Air Navigation
    • Early Air Navigators
    • Navigation at War
      • The Wartime Navigator
      • Naval Aviation
      • A New Era in Time and Navigation
    • Navigate the Skies! Activity
  • Navigating in Space
    • Challenges of Space Navigation
    • Reaching for the Moon
    • Navigating in Deep Space
    • Navigate in Space! Activity
  • Satellite Navigation
    • Challenges of Satellite Navigation
    • Reliable Global Navigation
    • Global Positioning System (GPS)
    • Who Uses Satellite Navigation
  • Navigation for Everyone
    • Meet a Professional Navigator
    • Personal Navigation Stories
  • Timeline of Innovation
  • Artifacts
  • Learning Resources
  • Multimedia Gallery
  • Research
  • Visit the Exhibition
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Sponsors
  • Press
  • Donate
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