Abstract
THE British “Air Almanac”, an almanac specially adapted to the requirements of air navigation, was published for the first time for the last quarter of the year 1937. A review of this publication appeared in these pages. Experience with the almanac in its original form showed the desirability of certain changes. These changes were required, in the first place, in order to shorten the time occupied in working out the results, and, in the second place, to reduce the amount of turning over of pages, because the air navigator often has very cold fingers. Another consideration was the numbing effect on the brain of a long flight; in order to reduce the possibility of error, it was desirable to make the working out of the results so far as possible a matter of pure routine. To meet these requirements, the “Air Almanac” has been completely remodelled. As compared with the original almanac, in the remodelled edition the amount of interpolation has been reduced to a minimum: the number of separate tables that have to be referred to has been reduced, so avoiding turning over pages; and the way of extracting the required information has been standardized.
The Air Almanac, 1939, January–March
(Air Publication 1602.) Prepared by H.M. Nautical Almanac. Office on behalf of the Air Ministry. Pp. 188 + xii. (H.M. Stationery Office, 1938.) 5s. net.
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The Air Almanac, 1939, January–March. Nature 143, 265 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/143265a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/143265a0