[ARC5] Video discussing the loss of the Lady Be Good

[Francesco Ledda]

I don't know what they used during WW2, but with a regular NDB, the arrow in
the indicator tells you if are going toward or away the station. A decent
instrument pilot will know very quickly if there is crosswind, and how to
correct.  I loved to do NDB approaches.....  yes, they can be dangerous if
left to the inexpert, deadly if mistakes are made (American Airlines Flight
965 Cali) but are great to improve piloting skills.
 
BR,

Frank 
KF5RXB

-----Original Message-----
From: ARC5 [mailto:arc5-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Michael A.
Bittner
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2014 8:09 PM
To: Robert Eleazer; arc5 at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [ARC5] Video discussing the loss of the Lady Be Good

Nobody seems to have mentioned that the method for determining whether you
are going toward or away from the station (both non-directional beacon and
4-course range station) is to note the increase in volume going toward the
station and decrease in volume going away.  Also the cone-of-silence when
passing over the station.  I used both systems back in the 1950s during
training and actual cross country trips in the Navy SNJ, SNB, PBM and T-28B.

Mike, W6MAB
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Robert Eleazer
  To: arc5 at mailman.qth.net
  Sent: Monday, December 29, 2014 5:48 PM
  Subject: Re: [ARC5] Video discussing the loss of the Lady Be Good


  The ADF indicators used in WWII as well as some time thereafter had a
needle that covered the dial from one side to the other.  When crossing the
station it did a quick 180- deg flip.  Theoretically you could track
outbound from the station as well as inbound, although that was fraught with
difficulties if there were significant crosswinds involved.

  If you missed the needle doing the flip and did not note the different
colors at each end of the needle you kept right on tracking, thinking you
were inbound but instead getting further away.  In this case the NDB station
was at the airfield, so no triangulation was required.

  They were flying at night and had a tailwind that apparently the navigator
did not know about.  He probably thought they had a headwind given that they
seemed to be taking much longer to get to the airfield.  Looking down in the
moonlight, they say that the sand dunes look like waves and so they thought
they were over the ocean.  Unlike the B-17, the B-24 does not ditch or belly
land very well, due to the high wing.  So with the airplane going down
eventually (out of fuel, I guess), they decided to bail out and took their
life raft with them, to find themselves in a trackless desert rather than
the ocean.  

  I don't think the remains of most of the crew have ever been found.  There
was drinkable water and coffee found on board as well as working radios and
loaded, live .50 cal machine guns.       

  Wayne        
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