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An Aluminum CPU |
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Here we have a complicated piece of hardware... real hardware. It's made of Aluminum, and it must have served the US Air Force well in its time. |
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 Click a photo to enlarge |
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This contraption is a Computer, Air
navigation, Dead Reckoning, Type CPU-26 A/P (Backwards talk loves
to the Military, Yoda the Jedi like). On the front it has a
sliding translucent window with a rotating compass dial and many
incomprehensible markings. On the back it has a rotating disc that
aligns with the scales below, full of equally incomprehensible
markings. And there are some instructions: "If 'D2-D1' is +, drift
is left in northern hemisphere"; "Use calibrated airspeed and press.
alt. to obtain F Factor. Multiply F factor by TAS obtained with
computer to obtain TAS corrected for compressibility"; and so on.
This computer, built by the Felsenthal Instruments company sometime around 1960 (but based on a pre-WWII design), was aimed at the mobile individual, in any hemisphere. It placed the ability to swiftly implement numerous computations useful to a pilot in a lightweight, handheld unit. All without batteries or blue screens. |
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Here are some more pictures. Click the photo of the case to see some additional useful instructions. |
 Click a photo to enlarge |
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Exhibit provenance: I bought this item in an "antique mall" in Folsom, California.
More info: |
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