Mike,
First of all thanks for posting those articles. Indeed we were talking about the same thing, apparently (Shooting LOPs). But my comment stands true, about the differences between surface and aerial observations. Making LCDR in the Navy, I am pretty sure of it. Point being that shooting cel from an airplane is totally different than a surface platform. I find it an extremely interesting subject, and some day when I am sailing would like to shoot some LOPs.
As far as a 2 man show, you are probably right. I wish I had help doing it... Hardest thing I have done in aviation.
Heck, I was flying xna to clt the other night looking at the stars, and I realized I couldn't do what I use to do if you put a gun to my head.
Enjoyed reading the articles. This quote is factually wrong:
"We'd navigate across the planet using celestial navigation--basically like Columbus did in 1492," the sergeant said. "I hated to see the navigator go, but that's modernization."
Maybe latitude (off polaris), but the longitude solution was only solved by the Royal Navy in the 19th century.
Bear