[ARC5] YG,ZB question or two

[Clarke, Tom AIR4.0P NATOPS]

 I suspect a lot must have depended on good old DR navigation since the
radio signals wouldn't have been available during radio silence and at
long distances from Mother (the carrier). 

The aircraft crew knew the position of the carrier at launch, were
briefed on the PIM (position of intended movement i.e., where the
carrier would be located upon return), and by using airspeed, course
flown, and wind (briefed or observed), they could DR themselves back
home. Using his trusty E-6B Navigation computer ("whiz wheel") and a
plastic maneuvering board (see explanation at:
http://www.offsoundings.info/navl.htm) using a grease pencil to plot his
track, our hero would usually get within visual range of mother and be
able to enjoy a "slider" in the dirty shirt mess, rather than C rations
from his life raft!

We are truly spoiled today with GPS, Inertial Navs, LORAN (not so much
anymore) giving incredible accuracy to navigation.  You can get within
meters of the desired position. True navigation is not taught much
anymore, it is mostly a big video game!  Ask a new pilot what the "nav
triangle" is and you will get some interesting answers!

Tom/W4OKW
An old pilot and an older navigator!

-----Original Message-----
From: Kenneth G. Gordon [mailto:kgordon2006 at frontier.com] 
Sent: Friday, July 01, 2011 11:35 AM
To: arc5 at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [ARC5] YG,ZB question or two

On 1 Jul 2011 at 9:46, jcoward5452 at aol.com wrote:

> Folks,
>  Did catapult launched float planes from cruisers use the YG/ZB system

> to return to their cruiser? Thanks,

Another question or two: did carrier pilots rely soley on the YG/ZB
system to return to their ships, or were they well enough trained and
equiped to return at least to the vicinity without it?

Were there very many pilots who were lost because of failure of the
system?

Why is so little known about its use? Before becoming a member of this
list, I had never heard of it.

Since radio silence was such a critical part of naval operations in a
war zone, was radio silence routinely broken to talk pilots home?

Ken Gordon W7EKB