Shown is a B-17, U.S. Army Air Corp., original issued Bombardier / Navigator stopwatch in its tin, spring shock suspended travel case
The Chapter youngest active member, Civil Air Patrol Cadet Senior Airman Cruz checks out this historical piece of B-17 aircrew flight gear
In the same manner in which it was held over seventy (70) plus years ago, 2nd Lieutenant Newman hold his stopwatch and demonstrates as how it was used and amazingly enough the time piece still function perfectly as if it was 1944
A nice close up of the stopwatch dial face which clearly show a 24 hour time system
A direct look down showing the four suspension springs in which the stopwatch rest on which help the time piece sustain the heavy vibrations of the B-17G Bomber and the rough flights in combat
Miami, Florida 10th March 2016: As we all enjoyed the insight that 2nd Lieutenant Stuart Newman brought to the March AFA-317th luncheon with his detailed and vivid accounts of his Boeing B-17G Fly Fortress combat experience, we were also treated to yet another delightful and amazing piece of functional U.S. Army Air Corp. history.
Lt. Newman brought in his original U.S. Army Air Corp. issued Navigator pocket stopwatch. Despite it being small this was a critical part of the crews equipment and especially for Lt. Newman as the Navigator / Bombardier, as this time piece once synchronized back at the crew briefing before take off would in fact tie in all the other aircraft within the bombing formation with a sequenced time pacing. Much to everyone surprise was the fact that its still worked as indented after all these years.
Lt. Newman with a pure sense of ease and confident as he did so many time before at actual operational briefings set his watch, clicked it bezel top mount button and showed all of us as how he and the time piece would track the time to a target or track time when plotting a course. Truly the man and his pocket watch were the predecessors to today's modern day Global Positioning System (GPS).
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