The Raft Book: Lore of the Sea and Sky. by GATTY, Howard - 1943

New York: G. Grady Press, 1943. First edition. There were two issues of the first edition; the first as offered here and the other sealed in a rubber pouch for installation in lifeboats. Small octavo. 152 pp. plus some full page plates (some in color and one a compass printed on waterproof paper). PublisherÕs printed blue wrappers. Together with both large folding maps; The Gatty Star Chart and the World Navigation Chart with tables of latitudes on the verso (complete). All housed in the publisherÕs card slipcase with printed paper spine label. An excellent copy."Gatty [an Australian scientist expert in Polynesian navigation techniques] wrote The Raft Book... at the behest of the U. S. Army Air Forces for pilots flying over the Pacific, and perhaps always with an eye toward others such as fishermen and sailors. Gatty was ideally suited for the task. He had first learned navigation as a midshipman at the Royal Australian Naval College and then celestial wayfaring by his own observations stargazing on long voyages. Landing in California, Gatty taught marine navigation to yachtsmen at his own school in Los Angeles before taking on the challenges of charting routes in the skies with both celestial navigation and dead reckoning. Philip Van Horn Weems became his mentor at his navigational school in San Diego and the two had a long collaboration.Gatty was navigator to pilot Wiley Post during their world record circumnavigation of the globe in 1931. Touching down in Roosevelt Field on Long Island, having bested the 21-day record set by the airship Graf Zeppelin, they were feted with an exuberant ticker-tape parade that only New York City can provide. The two wrote Around the world in eight days: the flight of the Winnie Mae, with an introduction by Will Rogers. They rivaled Charles Lindbergh in popularity. Other editions of The Raft BookÑin a smaller type, with fewer of the colored plates, less of a lyrical cover, and waterproofedÑsoon became part of the survival kits of all Allied airmen serving in the Pacific Ocean theaterÓ (J. Blakeley, Smithsonian). After Congress passed a special bill that allowed the government to award the Distinguished Flying Cross to civilians, President Herbert Hoover pinned the medals on Post and Gatty."During World War II, Gatty was made an honorary Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) group captain and worked for Lt. Gen. George H. Brett, commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) in the South Pacific, organizing the aerial evacuation of thousands of civilian refugees and service personnel from Java. Following the fall of the Dutch East Indies, Gatty was appointed director of Air Transport for the Allied forces, attached to General Douglas MacArthurÕs Australian headquarters. Gatty coordinated the operations of RAAF and USAAF transports and a Special Transport Flight, which comprised a motley collection of aircraft that had formerly flown with AustraliaÕs domestic airlines and with KNILM in the Dutch East Indies. Their mission was to carry troops and supplies to New Guinea.Early in 1943, after the Fifth U.S. Army Air Force took over his job, GattyÕs Special Transport Flight was disbanded. At that point Gatty, who had found MacArthur extremely difficult to work with, resigned his post and returned to Washington, where he was employed by the U.S. Navy to write a book to help downed Navy airmen survive and navigate in their dinghies. Called The Raft Book, it was so successful that it was placed in the survival kits of all Allied airmen serving in the Pacific." (History.net)