About this Item
Four uncommon flight charts from 1945 to 1954 covering a substantial part of the eastern Arabian Peninsula and the countries of the Gulf littoral. The charts have wide margins, likely for making annotations in flight: two of the four charts have extensive notes and calculations, both marginal, on the versos and to the lithographed area. FC-109 shows the entirety of the Arabian Gulf and a large part of Iraq while naming key Aramco locations such as Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, and Umm al Quwain; FC-104 covers northern Kuwait and Abadan to the Caspian Sea; FC-108 covers the Omani coast from Muscat to Al Kharitut, while the Baluchi side covers the coast from Ras Rashdi to Ras Shahid; FC-114 shows both sides of the Arabian Gulf, including Kuwait and Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the Trucial Coast. Details include settlements, roads, landing grounds, rail, relief, hydrographic features (including underground and abandoned canals), and pipelines. Also shown are approximated and unmarked boundaries, and areas unexplored or where data is lacking. Also shown are magnetic changes, while the two AAF charts are produced for night use under white, ultra-violet, red, and amber lights. The versos offer a rich source of information with aeronautical and geographic keys. Two charts have emergency advice for survival on land and sea provided by the AAF's Arctic, Desert, and Tropic Branch. Also covered are survival at land and sea, and a desert water table showing how many days a stranded pilot can survive on various amounts of water based on temperature, shade, and travel. Landing in Trucial Oman, "you may find some tiny native fishing settlements. There are villages in the stretch between Abu Zabi [Abu Dhabi] and Sharja". If forced down the Arabian Gulf,"innumerable oil tankers, cargo vessels and small native craft of all sizes ply these waters, and your chances of being sighted are good". Additionally, the two USAF charts have a return slip, where the user can update charts and send them back to their Aeronautical Chart and Information Service. The charts use the Lambert conformal conic projection, introduced by the Swiss mathematician Johann Heinrich Lambert in 1772, though not commonly used before the First World War. The projection is typically based on two standard parallels and is optimal for conformal mapping of land masses in an east-to-west orientation at mid-latitudes. The collection includes: 1. FC-104, USAF Flight Chart, "Basra, Iraq to Tehran, Iran", third edition, 1953. 2. FC-108, AAF Flight Chart, "Salala, Arabia to Jiwani, India", second edition, 1946. 3. FC-109, AAF Special Flight Chart, "Baghdad, Iraq to Sharjah, Arabia", first edition, 1945. 4. FC-114, USAF Flight Chart, "Al Basrah, Iraq to Ash Shariqah, Trucial Oman", second edition, 1954. 4 lithographed colour maps (from 1140 x 380 to 1660 x 500mm.), covering the eastern Arabian Peninsula and the Arabian Gulf with its neighbouring countries, location index and aeronautical data on verso. Occasional tears, soiling, or chips, sometime folded, FC-104 with recent neat Japanese tissue repairs to verso, FC-114 with marginal creasing and skinning. A very good collection.
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