----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I don't remember the book that detailed this, but it was about efforts
to provide airmen with survival, evasion and escape tools.  It might have
been in one of the books on POW camps.  This particular book was about the
British agency involved.
 
The information I recall is that at least some if not all of the maps were
printed on silk.  They went through several tests to determine what material
would resist creasing and fold small enough to be concealed inside clothing,
such as in the heel of a boot.  This book also mentioned that when showing
these maps to the commerical map houses they were able to identify the source
maps as their copy righted work because of the intentional errors they had
introduced.
 
Alan K. Edmonds
Mapping Lab Supervisor
Civil & Environmental Engineering & Geodetic Science
The Ohio State University
 
 
At 04:11 PM 10/2/96 -0400, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>          Our Archivist here at Scripps Institution of Oceanography
>          Library has just been given some rare Army Air Force Cloth
>          Survival Charts. We'd like to know what kind of cloth these
>          were printed on.  It looks/feels like silk but expect that
>          since 1944 they would be deteriorated; these are in
>          excellent condition. They are folded several times to fit
>          into a small letter-size envelope.
>
>          Anyone familiar with these?  They show surface currents for
>          an area in the Pacific.  They were actually developed right
>          here at SIO during the latter part of WWII using what is now
>          known to be poor data.  They are each in two parts; one is
>          the actual map in full color and the other is a smaller
>          explanation sheet "use of cloth survival charts in the
>          navigation of rubber rafts." The map is 1:1,000,000 and the
>          item I looked at is C-800 Bintan Island currents.  These
>          were published by the Air Intelligence Group, Division of
>          Naval Intelligence, Office of Chief of Naval Operations,
>          Navy Dept., Wash. D.C., prepared by H.O. JUL 1944.
>
>          Oh, and one advance note to Mary Larsgaard: No, we won't let
>          you sew these into a coat.
>
>          Thanks to anyone with knowledge of what kind of fabric these
>          are printed on.
>
>          - PML
>
>