Uploaded April 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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Familiar to pilots the world over, the E6B Flight Computer is one of the few mechanical calculators / slide rules still in common use today. Designed in the 1930s by navigation pioneer Lt. Philip Dalton, the E6B has changed little over the last 9 decades and combines the ability to quickly and accurately perform speed, time, distance, fuel burn, altitude/speed correction, wind drift and other calculations in a single compact package that requires no batteries.

0:00 Introduction
1:20 Lt.Philip Dalton / Evolution of the E6B
4:44 E6B Design Overview
5:54 Slide Rule Arithmetic
6:39 Time, Speed, Distance, Fuel Burn Calculations
7:42 Unit Conversion
8:35 True Airspeed / Density Altitude /Mach Number Correction
9:40 True Altitude Correction
10:15 Drift Angle Calculation
10:58 Wind Triangle Construction
14:12 Compressibility Correction
14:51 E6B Conclusion
15:23 RAF/RCAF Dalton Dead Reckoning Computer
16:50 RAF/RCAF Computer, Height and Airspeed Mk.II
17:00 Batori Jet Computer B-26
18:05 Outro

SOURCES:

code7700.com/pdfs/philip_dalton_the_lost_navigator.pdf
survivorlibrary.com/library/navigation_tables_for_mariners_and_aviators_1940.pdf
https://timeandnavigation.si.edu/multimedia-asset/mark-3a-plotting-board
https://timeandnavigation.si.edu/multimedia-asset/dalton-mark-vii-dead-reckoning-computer
web.archive.org/web/20230226113127/https://crip-power.com/e6b-flight-computer-tutorial-28
stefanv.com/aviation/flight_computers.html
cyanavigation.com/story-of-e-6b-philip-dalton
historicflyingclothing.com/en-GB/ww2-raf-personal-equipment/raf-computor-height-airspeed-mk-ii/prod_16738
glenarborsun.com/hungarian-born-lou-batori-dies-at-age-107