Yes and Yes Callum.
People who I met during the research of the UNM would often give me navigational tools they had either once used or inherited, and this is such an example. Geoff Summers MBE (
one of the world’s most accomplished polar travellers who has crossed Antarctica by its greatest axis) first introduced me to a sextant designed for use in WWII Bombers
There is nothing complicated about a sextant, it just looks complicated
Simply, it is a device that measures the angle between two objects.
The first task you learn in using a sextant is to measure the Sun’s altitude above the horizon at a specific time of day and it is actually very straight forward to do this.
Looking at my photo you will see lots of index shades (coloured filters) in front of the mirrors, you move them all across so the completely black out you view thru the telescope so you don’t damage your eyes with the Sun.
Now standing and facing the Sun with the sextant in your right hand, with your left hand on the index arm, you look through the eye piece at the horizon and move the index arm until the sun is visible through the two mirrors and index shades (you remove them, one by one, until you can see the Sun, a green ball against a dark green background). Rocking the entire sextant from side-to-side so that the sun’s image travels in a half-arc. Now, adjusting the index arm to bring the sun’s image down to just touch the horizon and you can read the sun’s altitude from the scales on the sextant.
There are two scales on the sextant. The scale on the frame is called the “arc,” while the scale on the index arm is the “vernier.” Each division of the arc equals one degree. Each division of the vernier equals two minutes (2'). To read the number of degrees, you find the lines on the arc which are closest to the zero mark on the vernier. The zero mark is usually somewhere between two lines. The correct arc reading is always that of the lower value, i.e., the line to the right of the zero mark and to read fractions of a degree, you find the division of the vernier which is in alignment with a division of the arc.
You now can refer to your Navigation Tables to identify your exact latitude.
I also own what I believe is one of the first baseplate compasses, which were constructed in the battlefields of Normandy by German Panzer tank crews during WWII. The bocage created a unique theatre where armoured close quarter combat played out and micronavigation was essential, in determining exactly where you were in relation not only to the enemy but your own troops. The German Army were masters of Battlefield Situational Awareness. These compasses differ from the earlier Swedish models accredited to the Swede Gunnar Tillander in 1928 and resemble much more the type we use today. It was given to me by a former Panzer Tank commander and I in turn gave it to my great buddy, Keith Lober, former Emergency Services Director of Yosemite SAR, USA and TL who collects WWII memorabilia.