Precision Sextant: An Early Portuguese Landmark on Aeronautical History

What is it about?

The Transatlantic Flights performed at 1919 proved to be a tremendous success; however, aerial navigation over ocean was based on radio equipment. Sextants were very difficult to use, and methods of calculations were quite time-consuming to provide positioning results of an aircraft at great speeds. For these reasons the Aerial Astronavigation was considered unsuitable. 3 years later, two Portuguese airmen managed to perform the First Aerial Crossing of the South Atlantic exclusively achieved by Aerial Astronavigation in an unprecedent route precision achievement; such feat was a milestone in Aviation History, marking the debut of the sextant as a key mean for air navigation: for the first time, sextant, course corrector and methods of calculations proved their effectiveness and value for aerial navigation. Reports of the 1st South Atlantic Air Crossing [Relatórios da 1ª Travessia Aérea do Atlântico Sul] written by Coutinho and Cabral, published in 1922, were included in the International Register of the “Memory of the World” of UNESCO. After July 27, 2011, the reports were considered World Heritage [Património da Humanidade].

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Why is it important?

In 1922, two Portuguese airmen managed to perform the First Aerial Crossing of the South Atlantic exclusively achieved by Aerial Astronavigation in an unprecedent route precision achievement; such feat was a milestone in Aviation History, marking the debut of the sextant as a key mean for air navigation: for the first time, sextant, course corrector and methods of calculations proved their effectiveness and value for aerial navigation. For the first time in the Aviation History, was used an effective and integral method of air navigation - sufficiently rigorous to perform long-distance journeys over the ocean and to reach very small islets (instead of trying to find a country).