{"id":4019,"date":"2020-04-20T13:55:05","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T18:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/?p=4019"},"modified":"2025-11-30T11:55:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T16:55:44","slug":"e6b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/2020\/04\/e6b\/","title":{"rendered":"E6B"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is a history of the E6B<\/a> using Harry’s collection of historic flight computers.<\/p>\n

The source of this information is from Wikipedia and a few other resources.<\/p>\n

Invented by Naval Lt.\u00a0Philip Dalton<\/a> in the late 1930s.\u00a0 The early E6B computers were made of brass; aluminum and plastic models were made during WWII. Dalton joined the United States Army as an artillery officer, however, he resigned from the Army and became a Navy Reserve pilot.<\/p>\n

During WWII and perhaps into the 1950s, The London Name Plate Mfg. Co. made a “Height & True Airspeed Computer Mk. IV (these may have had a model reference of 6B\/345).\u00a0 It calculated true airspeed on one side and time-speed calculations on the other side.\u00a0 These models were in use throughout the 1960s and 1970s by several European Air Forces (German Air Force was one of them).<\/p>\n

The name comes from the original part number for the US Army Air Corps.<\/p>\n

Dalton teamed up with Philip Van Horn Weems<\/a> to develop and market a series of flight computers.<\/p>\n

The first popular model was the Model B (made around 1933).\u00a0 Here are a few Model B computers from Harry’s collection.\u00a0 In 1936, Dalton included a wind correction side to his computer, the U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC) designated these as the E-1, E-1A, and the E-1B.<\/p>\n

Mid 1930s he had the \u00a0Mark VII. The Mark VII used the Model B slide rule.\u00a0 It is said that Fred Noonan used this model on his flight with Amelia Earhart.\u00a0 Dalton wasn’t happy with the wind side so he set out to improve on it and came out with the very popular wind arc slide.\u00a0 Dalton’s wind arc slide was printed on an endless cloth belt moved inside a square box by a knob. He applied for a patent in 1936 (granted in 1937 as 2,097,116). This was for the Model C, D and G computers widely used in World War II by the British Commonwealth (as the “Dalton Dead Reckoning Computer”), the\u00a0U.S. Navy, copied by the Japanese, and improved on by the Germans, through\u00a0Siegfried Knemeyer’s invention of the disc-type\u00a0Dreieckrechner<\/i>\u00a0device, somewhat similar to the eventual E6-B’s backside\u00a0compass rose\u00a0dial in general appearance, but having the compass rose on the front instead for real-time calculations of the wind triangle at any time while in flight.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Army Air Corps decided the endless belt computer cost too much to manufacture, so later in 1937 Dalton morphed it to a simple, rigid, flat wind slide, with his old Model B circular slide rule included on the reverse. He called this prototype his Model H; the Army called it the E-6A.<\/p>\n

In 1938 the Army wrote formal specifications, and had him make a few changes, which Weems called the Model J. The changes included moving the “10” mark to the top instead of the original “60”. This “E-6B” was introduced to the Army in 1940, but it took\u00a0Pearl Harbor\u00a0for the\u00a0Army Air Forces\u00a0(as the former “Army Air Corps” was renamed on June 20, 1941) to place a large order. Over 400,000 E-6Bs were manufactured during World War II, mostly of a plastic that glows under\u00a0black light\u00a0(cockpits were illuminated this way at night).<\/p>\n

The base name “E-6” was fairly arbitrary, as there were no standards for stock numbering at the time. For example, other USAAC computers of that time were the C-2, D-2, D-4, E-1 and G-1, and flight pants became E-1s as well. Most likely they chose “E” because Dalton’s previously combined time and wind computer had been the E-1. The “B” simply meant it was the production model.<\/p>\n

The designation “E-6B” was officially marked on the device only for a couple of years. By 1943 the Army and Navy changed the marking to their joint standard, the AN-C-74 (Army\/Navy Computer 74). A year or so later it was changed to AN-5835, and then to AN-5834 (1948). The\u00a0USAF\u00a0called later updates the MB-4 (1953) and the CPU-26 (1958), but navigators and most instruction manuals continued using the original E-6B name. Many just called it the “Dalton Dead Reckoning Computer”, one of its original markings.<\/p>\n

After Dalton’s death, Weems<\/sup>\u00a0updated the E-6B and tried calling it the E-6C, E-10, and so forth, but finally fell back on the original name, which was so well known by 50,000 World War II Army Air Force navigator veterans. After the patent ran out, many manufacturers made copies, sometimes using a marketing name of “E6-B” (note the moved hyphen). An aluminium version was made by the London Name Plate Mfg. Co. Ltd. of London and Brighton and was marked “Computer Dead Reckoning Mk. 4A Ref. No. 6B\/2645” followed by the\u00a0arrowhead\u00a0of UK military stores.<\/p>\n

The Model C, D, and G computers were used during WWII.<\/p>\n

Kane Mark VI Dead Reckoning Computer from 1957<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dalton E-6B Mark 1<\/p>\n

Here is a Weems Dalton Dead Reckoning Computer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Warner Model B-1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

E6B9<\/p>\n

Felsenthal Dalton E6B\u00a0 Mark I<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A friend’s American Airlines issue Type C1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Felsenthal AN-5835-1 (1944)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here is another military issue altitude correction computer AN-5837-1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A.C. Type G-1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Air Force Type MB-2A<\/a>.<\/p>\n

U.S. Army Air Forces Type D-4<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ASA E6B<\/a>.<\/p>\n

APR E6B<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Does anyone know why they have the little eye or loop on one side? It is so that it can be secured to a lanyard around your neck.\u00a0 Early aircraft did not have a floor as we know it today and if you dropped your E6B, you would have a hard time getting it since it would fall between the spars and\/or ribs of the aircraft.\u00a0 You would have to reach down and try to find it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The flight computer was very popular during WWII.\u00a0 Along with the US, the British, Germans<\/a>, and Japanese<\/a> had their own version.<\/p>\n

Here are some pictures of the German Dreieckrechner Flight Computer<\/a>, invented by Siegfried Knemeyer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here is a rare Sanderson SC-6 Flight Computer<\/a>.\u00a0 Here is a little history on the Sanderson name in aviation.\u00a0 The well know Jeppesen was once Jeppesen Sanderson.\u00a0 That company actually started as Jeppesen.\u00a0 It was founded in 1934, by\u00a0Elrey Borge Jeppesen<\/a>, a pilot working for an airline.\u00a0 He is credited with making the first aeronautical charts.\u00a0 At first he gathered information for his own use. Soon other pilots started giving him information to use on his charts.\u00a0 It wasn’t long before Jeppesen was too busy making charts, that he had to quit his job as an airline captain.\u00a0 In 1974 his company merged with Sanderson Films to form Jeppesen Sanderson. Sanderson Films was founded by Paul Sanderson in 1956<\/a>.\u00a0 Here is another Sanderson SC-4 Flight Computer<\/a> from Harry’s collection.<\/p>\n

For a while, many fuel suppliers had their own flight computer that they would give out at FBOs.\u00a0 Here is a rare Esso Aviation Products computer in Harry’s collection<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here are a few that were developed to assist in traffic pattern entry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here are a few that were used to determine aircraft performance<\/a>.\u00a0 Note the name on them is the Federal Aviation Agency.<\/p>\n

Some were developed to assist in ADF navigation such as these from Harry’s collection<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many aircraft manufacturers made their own series of slide rule\/flight computers that were aircraft specific.<\/p>\n

Here are a few from Cessna Aircraft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here are a few from Piper Aircraft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other industries<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Slide rules are very popular in scuba diving<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Retail Sales.\u00a0 Here is one that is used for price mark up<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is a history of the E6B using Harry’s collection of historic flight computers. The source of this information is from Wikipedia and a few other resources. Invented by Naval Lt.\u00a0Philip Dalton in the late 1930s.\u00a0 The early E6B computers were made of brass; aluminum and plastic models were made during WWII. Dalton joined the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s95FsX-e6b","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3865,"url":"https:\/\/flymall.org\/blog\/2020\/03\/slow-flight\/","url_meta":{"origin":4019,"position":0},"title":"Slow Flight","date":"March 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"From Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3B) Chapter 4 March 2020. 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