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Do we know what model of sextant they will be using?
Robert
----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Reed" <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 12:45 AM
Subject: A Sextant and a Vickers Vimy
> Steve Fossett and Mark Rebholz will be flying across the Atlantic from
> Newfoundland to Ireland sometime in the next few weeks in a replica of a
> 1919
> Vickers Vimy, duplicating the flight of Alcock and Brown in that year
> which was
> the first non-stop tansatlantic flight.
>
> Although they will have the benefit of the best modern meteorological
> information, Fossett and Rebholz plan to navigate with a sextant. From
> the May 30
> issue of "Aviation Week & Space Technology":
> " But Rebholz will be faithful to Alcock and Brown's navigational
> pedigree,
> relying on a compass, watch, nautical sextant with a bubble horizon
> (because
> the horizon won't always be visible) and a drift indicator.
> 'I want to focus attention on the achievement of Brown as a pioneer of
> aerial navigation,' he says. 'Anybody can go buy a GPS from Radio Shack.
> That's no
> challenge.' "
> And:
> " Still, a camera will record their progress on National Geographic's
> web
> site, which prompts Vimy owner Peter McMillan to joke, 'Ironically,
> everyone
> in the world will know exactly where they are even if they don't.' "
>
> The Vickers Vimy is a First World War era British biplane which was
> designed
> as a bomber though it apparently saw little action. Instead it made its
> fame
> in various long-distance flights in the early history of aviation. This
> is
> the same Vimy replica that flew from London to Adelaide in 1994.
>
> -FER
> 42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W.
> www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars
