Comment Comment by arctangent I don't know for sure but I strongly suspect that Pratchett was heavily influenced by Operation Black Buck: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_BuckIn particular, this diagram from that page makes the process clear: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_Buck#/media/Fi...Hopefully the name of the original mission is enough to help you find a link to some relevant mathematics :-) parent arctangent 7 years ago
In particular, this diagram from that page makes the process clear: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Black_Buck#/media/Fi...
Hopefully the name of the original mission is enough to help you find a link to some relevant mathematics :-)