How did pilots fly without GPS?

Prior to the jet age, some aircraft used a radio-based system known as Very High Frequency Omni-Directional Range (VOR) flying. In this system, aircraft would receive communications from fixed ground beacons, allowing it to continue its flight path and find its position.



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Flying at Night Initially, bonfires set along air routes were used to help guide pilots through the darkness. In the 1920s, the Post Office established a system of lighted airways marked by powerful rotating beacons.

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The anemometer, the instrument for measuring speed in aeroplanes. Pilots have to promptly know the speed at which they are moving in the mass of air that surrounds the aeroplane and the anemometer is responsible for measuring it. The anemometer, as it is known today, was designed in 1926 by John Patterson.

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After the outbreak of WWII, many pilots started bringing freeze-dried coffee packets on long flights. Instant coffee was a new technology for the time, and pilots often swallowed the crystals with gulps of cold water to help keep them awake.

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