[Milsurplus] Naval Aviation Navigation

[David Edsall]

Hi Michael, Peter and the group,

The TACAN system was developed during the 1950s by the military and formally 
adopted as standard in 1957, according to the detailed article below on the 
history of navigation aids in the U.S.

http://www.naco.faa.gov/index.asp?xml=fioo/fihistory

Very good reading,
73, David W1TDD

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Gottlieb" <nerd at verizon.net>
To: <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2006 12:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Naval Aviation Navigation


> At some point they had TACAN, but I think that was later than the time 
> period you are talking about.  TACAN isn't a beacon, but responds to 
> interrogation from the planes.  It would still be detectable, though. 
> They sent out random pulses so it was not possible to determine the level 
> of aircraft activity by monitoring how busy the ship's transmitter was.
>
>
>
> Michael St. Angelo wrote:
>> Folks,
>>
>> How did Naval Aviators find their way back to the Aircraft Carriers? They 
>> could have used beacons but constant beacon operation would have exposed 
>> the carrier location to enemy forces. I know some of the patrol planes 
>> had a second crewman who may have performed navigation duties but figher 
>> pilots went it alone.
>>
>> I just finished reading Eddie Rickenbacker' autobiography. He was lost at 
>> sea in 1942 when a that the B17D that was ferrying him to MacArthur's 
>> headquarters in Port Morseby, New Guinea from Hawaii lost it's way and 
>> was forced to ditch. The challenge of ocean navigation was impressed on 
>> me during this story.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Mike St. Angelo
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