Am I right in thinking it didn't matter which star it locked onto, and it didn't need to know which star it was? Would it be a problem if it locked onto another celestial body (e.g. Venus)?

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kens 2 hours ago | parent [-]

No, it needed to lock onto the right star, the one that matched the coordinates. Otherwise, it would be pointing in a random direction. The navigator would check against three different stars to detect an error.

The system could also use planets or even the sun for navigation. A special filter was used with the sun to avoid burning out the photomultiplier tube.

	▲	js2 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Ah, so it could be used in the daytime. I read the whole article assuming it was only useful at night. (When else would you be flying a bomber and need high accuracy?)