[don1reed]

Disappointment, dang.

Searched everywhere and all I can come up with is freeware beginning 1950.

The only freeware I have that works is "STARCALC".

In order for the average-joe or jill to get LAN is to have a method of measuring the Sun's altitude and a copy of the Sun's Declination (DEC) tables.

For those who don't know there are 3 scenarios for determining LOCAL APPARENT NOON (LAN):

A) 90° - sun's altitude = x,

1) LAT = DEC - x (If the Sun is further away from the equator than your boat. (Both you and Sun in same hemisphere.))

2) LAT = DEC + x (If the Sun is between your boat and the equator. Both you and Sun in same hemisphere.))

3) LAT = x - DEC (If you and Sun are in opposite hemispheres.)

I know of no other way to navigate without using math of some kind.

Using POLARIS to obtain LAT, one would definitely need an Almanac for the war years (3 pages of tables)
LAT = Apparent altitude (corrected for refraction) - 1° + a0 + a1 + a2
...and to get a fix using 3 or more stars.

Its hard cheese for the noob to find out that there's more to nav than pushing a "where-am-I" button on a Garmin. It should give them pause and added respect for those who've gone before.

I don't see any easy way around the math envolved....in actuality, its no harder than balancing one's check book or following a bus schedule.