Biographical entry
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Bright Sparcs
Biographical entry
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Gatty, Harold Charles (1903 - 1957) |
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| Air navigation engineer and Naturalist | ||
| Born: 5 January 1903 Campbell Town, Tasmania, Australia. Died: 30 August 1957. | ||
| Harold Charles Gatty devised the ground-speed and drift indicator which formed the basis of the automatic pilot now standard equipment on most aircraft. He flew around the world with Wiley Post in 1931 and founded Pacific Airways Ltd in Fiji in 1951. |
Career Highlights |
| Cadet-midshipman, Royal Australian Naval College, Jervis Bay 1918-20, apprenticed ship's officer, Patrick Steamship Company of Sydney 1920-23, various jobs 1923-27, chief mate, Goodwill 1927-28, opened laboratory repairing navigation instruments, including aircraft compasses, and making air-route maps for the Pioneer Instrument Co. in Los Angeles from 1928, navigator with Rocoe Turner in a record 19 hour non-stop flight from Los Angeles to New York 1929, accompanied Harold Bromley in an unsuccessful attempt on the first flight across the Pacific 1930, flew around the world with Wiley Post in 8 days, 15 hours and 51 minutes 1931, senior air navigation engineer, United States Army Air Corps 1931-34, Pan American World Airways 1935-42, director of air tranpsort for the United States Army Air Corps in the South West Pacific 1942-43, polar navigation work with the United States Navy 1943-45, South Pacific regional manager, Pan American Airways1946-48, tuna fishing industry, South Sea Marine Products Ltd 1948-51, founded Fiji Airways Ltd 1951. Commemorated by a monument to his round the world flight, erected in Campbell Town 1961. |
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Published by The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre on ASAPWeb, 1994 - 2007 Originally published 1994-1999 by Australian Science Archives Project, 1999-2006 by the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre Disclaimer, Copyright and Privacy Policy Submit any comments, questions, corrections and additions Prepared by: Acknowledgements Updated: 26 February 2007 http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P001570b.htm |