Manual

n ay of , eight years before indbergh’s famous
solo flight, three small planes set out from ockaway
aval irstation,  headed for lymouth, ngland in
an attempt to make the first trans-tlantic flight. nly
one of them made it. wenty-five hundred feet below on
board a station tracking ship, a young navigator, t. dr.
hilip an orn eems, .. avy, gazed up and thought
there must be a safer and simpler way than using a small
armada of ships as beacons for the flight.
or centuries, man had relied on the heavens, on the
circling planets and the constant horizon to guide him in
his travels. n accurate clock,
a compass, a sextant and
charts were the necessary
tools for plotting a course,
but these required time for
computations and a place
to spread out and study the
charts. he timeworn system
of celestial navigation was
ill suited to the cockpit,
but the airplane was here
to stay. t. dr. eems,
a brilliant, inventive and
determined young man
knew as he tracked that
first flight that navigation
was his destiny, and he went on to revolutionize the field
with his ideas, writings and inventions.
he challenge he undertook was complex and involved
the invention of new methods and new tools. t required
a horizon system independent of the sea horizon that
was often not visible from the cockpit of a plane. eems
worked for years to develop a new kind of sextant and
to find someone to manufacture it. hen an accurate
timepiece was needed, eems invented the econd
etting atch with its inner rotating dial. e produced
the famous eems lotter, the more precise and easier
to use plotting tool, which is still one of our most
popular plotters.
he eems  lath
®
tory
Capt. Philip Van Horn Weems