A few years ago at my local antiques centre, i purchased a cardboard folder roughly 13 by 11 inches, (Erased name on cover,P/O CRANE) the label on cover states; MINIATURE LATTICE CHART BOOK CAUTION.
THIS BOOK MUST ONLY BE USED FOR THE STORAGE OF LATTICE CHARTS. WHEN DEMANDING QUOTE FORM LM/B. OPEN HERE (WITH ARROW POINTING TO OPEN SIDE !)Inside, secured by ties locked to coil springs are around 17 linen backed "miniature lattice charts " They are basically maps with very little detail on them but are covered in red/green lines forming a lattice ? they cover England/Ireland but do go out east to France plus, eg; FISHGUARD-LE HAVRE,MIDDLESBOROUGH-DEN HELDER Etc,the last is double size,EDINGBURGH-HAMBURG ! All are marked 1943/44,some have been well used, courses in pencil being marked/erased on them.could any one tell me exactly what they are? someone recently said they could be radar maps,poss GEE? Also in folder were two unused FORM441/1 Navigation forms, and one FORM 1659,With pencilled details; 28/5/45, AEROPLANE- 135,CAPTAIN-F/O SPENCER, BOMB AIMER-SGT HEMPSTEAD. Also "Engineers log/met report, s/c ranges-preparing to bomb-bombs gone (written 4 times)-base circling,decending-base,landed". My thoughts are late war,post war training, poss "heavies" ? i look at the many RAF maps on E-bay,but have yet to see any like these,perhaps i have just not seen them.
Duncan; sounds as if you have a veritable treasure trove. From your desciption. these certainly sound like Gee charts. at a rough guess I would think that they pertain to an a/c somewhat like a Mossie, pilot and navigator. Gee charts for Hallie navs were map size. I have several forms headed Date, aeroplane,captain bomb/aimer. Une\der which are headings, time,ETA, Distance,track groundspeed,nextpp and observations. As a B/A we used these to record times and fixes from Gee sets and distance and bearing of cities using the H2S set. as well as any other info such as change of track etc. It will be interesting to read other comments. Another Duncan, in this case Ian.
Hi Ian,
Thanks for reply,still not sure! as, "Engineers log" pencilled on form, Flight Engineer?... overall chart size is,21 inches by 13 inches,except the last one which is roughly 21 by 40 inches when opened out fully.
They are all printed SERIES 2,3,5 OR 6 But someone has crossed out the series numbers and written in pen,"Eastern chain," or"Sth chain" etc...they are titled;BELFAST-RUGBY,FISHGUARD-LE HAVRE,MIDDLESBROUGH-DEN HELDER,OXFORD-ST QUENTIN,AMSTERDAM-KIEL,ROTTERDAM-FRANKFURT,SEDAN-AUGSBURG,D'OUESSANT-CAEN,ROUEN-EPINAL,ST NAZAIRE-ANGOULEME,POITIERS-GRENOBLE,WEXFORD-BRIGHTON,WEST OF SCILLY ISLES,LANDS END-LAVEL,WEST OF ST NAZAIRE,QUIMPER-ROCHEFORT,N.W. OF LA CORUNA,OVIEDO-BORDEAUX,TRALEE-WATERFORD,and the larger one,EDINGBURGH-HAMBURG.A mixed bag!
Duncan, I have done some research on the GEE chains used in 1944/45 and it sounds like you have the GEE charts. The Halifax we are after, ditched west of Scotland, LW170, of 518 (Met) Squadron was located by Warwicks of 281 Squadron floating along and pinpointed using GEE from the Northwest chain of GEE stations.
To verify and confirm the GEE readings of 281 Squadron I contacted the Royal Institute of Navigation in London and they referred me to their GEE expert, Wing Commander Walter Blanchard, RAF (retd)whose email is blanch@pncl.co.uk
who is very knowledgable. He lives in Dorking, Surrey. He could help you with these charts.