world war 2 navy navigation system pictures

These simulators became famous during World War II, when they were used as a key pilot training aid by almost every combatant nation. Nobody expects these young officers to become Magellans overnight.The Link Trainer, also known as the Blue Box and Pilot Trainer was a flight simulator produced between the early 1930's based on technology pioneered in 1929 by Edwin Albert Link. Her instructor, Daniel Stayton, says that's OK. Like many of the others in the class, she uses GPS to navigate her daily life. 'I mean, obviously I heard about using stars to navigate in the old days,' she says, 'but I never thought I'd be using it.' Until now, says 20-year-old Audrey Channell, celestial navigation wasn't on her radar. In fact, there has been at least one incident in the past decade when a Navy ship ran aground partly because of problems with the electronic navigation system, investigators say.īack in the classroom at the Naval Academy, the midshipmen finishing up their first course seem a little bewildered. 'You know, I would equate it to blindly following the navigation system in your car: If you don't have an understanding of north/south/east/west, or perhaps where you're going, it takes you to places you didn't intend to go,' he says. He says the Navy is bringing back celestial navigation to make sure its officers understand the fundamentals. Over the past decade, electronic navigation systems on ships have become easier to use, so less training is required. White, who heads the Navy's training, says there is also a desire to get back to basics. And China may be developing similar capabilities. He thinks the Russians probably have systems to jam the special signals the military uses as well. 'You can buy a lot of GPS jammers off the Internet,' he says. Already, jamming has become more common, Weeden says.

World war 2 navy navigation system pictures