February 5, 2019 Flight Computers and Pigeons

The Liberty Gazette

February 5, 2019

Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: When we were discussing what to share with you this week, I thought about the history of the E6B. It was the first flight computer. Not a Mac or PC. More like a slide rule. In fact, that’s where Philip Dalton got the idea for it. Dalton’s first E6B was a circular slide rule that provided the means for calculating true airspeed and altitude. The items necessary for those computations are a clock, a compass and an altimeter. You need to know the temperature, too, because that affects air density, which affects speed and altitude.

A later model of Dalton’s gizmo included a wind arc slide. This was printed on an endless cloth belt which moved inside a square box by turning a knob. Fortunately, this is a collector’s item and not the version of E6B used today.

The Germans improved on the gadget with what looks more like today’s E6B, a dial and a slide rule together. Line up the numbers right to figure direction, time, distance, speed, altitude, fuel burn, and more.

To be honest, what prompted me to tell you about the E6B was something that seems to be turning into a game (and by way of this article, I’m putting the other party on notice). At last months’ Chamber luncheon, Bruce Campbell pulled me aside and said he had something to show me that no one else in the room would understand. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a mini-E6B keychain. I gasped, because that’s what a pilot does when presented with an E6B keychain. “Where did you get that?!”

It was his uncle’s and it is now a prize possession of Bruce’s. I was impressed. I went on eBay. You can buy them today, new ones, but there’s nothing like the historical family heirloom that Bruce has.

Then we thought an E6B keychain might be difficult to explain, so I did an internet search for a different topic. I entered the word, “flying.” Top result was Flying Magazine. But way down at the bottom was an entry that got my curiosity: “NY Flying Flights.”

Now if you’re Stuart Marcus, or an ornithologist, you probably already know this is a bird. And maybe you know the story behind it. But we didn’t. It has nothing to do with aviation, really, other than perhaps the story of Icarus or the fact that man builds airplanes so he can fly like a bird.

The fad started in the late nineteenth century. People in New York and New Jersey captured these pigeons called Tumblers (they call them “Flights”) and raised them on rooftops. They fly in flocks of a few hundred. Flight flyers have a game, the object of which is to lure and capture one from another gamer’s flock. Flights love being with their kind, so if one strays, it easily attaches to another flock. Sometimes the game became violent, turning into “pigeon wars.”

Conclusion: the E6B was the better choice for this week.

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