Some watches of famous aviators

[dinomartino1]

USN Torpedo Boat Navigation watch, Waltham,Weems System of Navigation,Second-Setting.
Charles A. Lindbergh

 

[dinomartino1]

James H. Doolittle

 

[dinomartino1]

Clock, Spirit Of St. Louis, Lindbergh, 1927 Paris Flight

 

[dinomartino1]

NASA issued this Omega Speedmaster chronograph to astronaut James Lovell for use during the Gemini 12 mission of November 1966.

Selected after a series of rigorous tests demonstrated its high level of precision and reliability, the Speedmaster chronograph was chosen by NASA for the U.S. space program in 1964. Program requirements called for a manual-winding wrist chronograph that was water-proof, shock-proof, anti-magnetic, able to withstand temperatures ranging from 0 to 200 degrees Farenheit, and accelerations of up to 12 g's. NASA first certified the Omega Speedmaster as the chronograph for the Gemini program and made successive purchases for both the Apollo and the Skylab/ASTP missions.

Harrison Schmitt, the only scientist-astronaut to go to the Moon, wore this chronograph during the Apollo 17 mission.

 

[MikeyB-17]

Cor somebody made a pig’s ear of taking the back off Lovell’s Speedy!
But where is Buzz Aldrin’s? First watch on the Moon, sent to the Smithsonian and never arrived! It’s out there somewhere!

 

[dinomartino1]

The first watch in history worn on a space walk was the Poljot Strela (Arrow) chronograph when Alexey Leonov stepped outside Voskhod 2 at 12:34 PM on March 18, 1965, for the first time, a human being exposed themselves directly to the hard vacuum of outer space and timing every moment of that first spacewalk, the Strela.
The Caliber 3017 Strela, standard issue for all Soviet Air Force pilots and cosmonauts from 1959 until its eventual phasing out in 1979, was a rugged, reliable piece of hardware with a densely-packed, but still attractive dial setup. A two-register chronograph It had a built-in stopwatch, a 45-minute counter, as well as a telemeter (for determining the distance to an event that can be seen and heard) and a tachymeter (for calculating speed by travel time).
Ordinary soviet citizens never got to see such a watch in stores as they where made for the airforce and were constructed to strict military specifications. The 3017 movement ceased production in the late 1970s and was replaced with the current 3133 model.

Almost immediately, the suit began malfunctioning, and while Leonov was able to attach Voskhod 2’s external camera, by the time he reached down to use his own handheld camera his suit’s joints had inflated and stiffened. His ballooning suit left him unable to bend down to reach his camera’s shutter button, and the problem continued to worsen throughout the 12 minute and 9 second EVA.
When the time came for Leonov to re-enter the capsule, the suit was so rigid he was unable to maneuver himself into position and entered the airlock sideways. Leonov was forced to manually depressurize the suit inside the airlock in order to regain movement, a move that Belyayev warned could cause a potentially fatal case of the bends, but after several minutes of struggle Leonov managed to bend well enough to return to the capsule. While much of the air inside was purged, Leonov’s suit was still reportedly filled to the knees with sweat as the astronaut had suffered an attack of heatstroke during the spacewalk. With inflated suit joints still making his movements cumbersome, he took an additional 46 seconds past schedule to return to landing position in the capsule. At the immense speeds the Voskhod 2 orbiter was traveling, this translated to an overshoot of their intended landing zone of roughly 200 miles, with the craft finally coming to rest in a heavily wooded part of the western Urals. Belyayev and Leonov equipped with a 9mm pistol inside the Voskhod 2 lander were at threat from hungry bears and wolves as well as bitter sub-freezing cold, a day later a rescue party finally arrived on skis. A rescue aircraft had herded away a wolf pack in the area.
Helicopters set out to find the stranded capsule.
The forest was impenetrable, swift rescue out of the question. Hovering above the tree line, the chopper dropped clothes and supplies into the forest. Leonov and Belyayev took the supplies that made it to the ground, and prepared for a cold night inside the capsule.
The next day a search party skied to the crash site to confirm what the helicopter had discovered the previous day, there was no way to lift the cosmonauts out of the forest. The rescuers built a log shelter and fire, and the cosmonauts spent their second night in the taiga.
The next day, Leonov and Belyayev skied several miles to a waiting helicopter, and began the long journey back to Baikonur for a debriefing.

And for all the malfunctioning equipment Alexey Leonov was forced to deal with, one of his most crucial pieces performed admirably through extreme g-forces, brutal mountain cold and the vacuum of space his personal Poljot Strela chronograph.

 

[dinomartino1]

Smithy's watch.
This wrist watch and case belonged to celebrated aussie aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith. Historians believe the watch was worn by “Smithy” during the first successful east-west crossing of the Atlantic and his record-breaking solo flight from England to Australia. The watch was given additional historic significance in 2001 when Australian astronaut Andy Thomas carried it on the space shuttle Discovery. Made in 1927 by Swiss manufacturer CYMA, the watch features a brown leather band, white dial and luminous hands and numbers.

 

[dinomartino1]

Leamnia stop watch given to Neville duke by Hawker when he had to leave the company after Duke fractured his spine following a forced landing in a Hunter at Thorney Island. Another heavy landing in May 1956 caused further spinal injuries; he was forced to resign in October 1956 after being immobilised for several months.
Neville Frederick Duke, DSO, OBE, DFC & Two Bars, AFC, FRAeS (11 January 1922 – 7 April 2007) was a British test pilot and fighter ace of the Second World War. He was the most successful Western Allied ace in the Mediterranean Theatre, and was credited with the destruction of 27 enemy aircraft. After the war, Duke was acknowledged as one of the world's foremost test pilots. In 1953, he became holder of the world air speed record when he flew a Hawker Hunter at 727.63 mph (1,171.01 km/h) over Littlehampton.

 

[zoomer]

View attachment 35326
James H. Doolittle

​

Pacific Coast
Amateur Boxing Champion
105 lbs.
James Doolittle
Held at L.A.A. Club
Nov. 16th 1912.​