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Old September 11th 03, 05:08 AM
Dave Stadt
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"William T Bartlett" wrote in message
. ..
They flew very effectively on the Adcock range, which was set up across

the
nation. This was a aural navigation system in which all that was necessary
was a tunable low freq radio, a watch, compas. and chart (some knowledge

of
Morris code
"ADCOCK RANGE - National radio navigation system replaced after World War

2
by the omnirange system. It consisted of segmented quadrants broadcasting
Morse Code "A" (dot-dash) and "N" (dash-dot) signals in opposing quadrants
so that pilots could orient their position relative to a "beam"

broadcasting
a steady tone, and a Morse Code station identifier. Using a

"build-and-fade"
technique, a pilot could (ideally) pinpoint his location by the strength

or
weakness of a signal"
look up adcock range on Goggle.DF was also available.
Bill


That came long after the original airmail pilots and did absolutely nothing
to help them keep the dirty side down. Knowing where you are doesn't mean
much if you don't know which way is up. One tool they did use if caught on
top was to drop a parachute flare and follow it down through the soup hoping
they broke out before hitting the ground. If all else failed they hit the
silk.



wrote in message
...
A little flip, really sad but mostly true.

Del Rawlins wrote:

On 29 Aug 2003 01:15 PM, Dick posted the following:


Staring at my empty instrument panel while considering which
instruments and their placement, I got wondering how old time Mail
pilots flew if caught in IFR conditions.



Mostly, they flew into the ground.

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