Cartographie

1956 · 153759 — London: Geographical Section General Staff 1956 & 1957. Scarce maps of Oman and south-east Arabia dating to the Jebel Akhdar War A pair of decidedly uncommon and impressively sized regional maps both second editions Muscat-Musira following the first of 1945 S. E. Arabia first published in 1956. The Muscat-Masira map drawn up by D Survey of the Ministry of Defence reaches as far north as Khaburah Oman on the coast south beyond Masirah Island and westward reaching beyond Lahus and Hadhi. It is based on several mappings including Bertram Thomas's map of Rub' al Khali the "Empty Quarter" 1931 the sand desert covering most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula Samuel Barrett Miles 1910 map of Oman and Captain F. F. Hunter's map of Arabia 1935 revision. The aeronautical chart goes into greater detail reaching beyond Sur in the North South to Masirah Island and Manadhif and West to Uruq ash Shaybah UAE; this was drawn up by No. 1 SPC.RE i.e. Survey Production Centre Royal Engineers and is based largely on the USAF Aeronautical Approach Charts 1956 and World Aeronautical Chart 563 1951. During the mid to late-1950s Britain was involved in a number of disputes in Oman perhaps the most serious involving the Imam Ghalib al-Hinai and his brother Talib bin Ali who led the Imamate's revolt against Sultan Said bin Taimur which resulted in the Jebel Akhdar or Oman War 1954-1959. In this the RAF played a leading role not least because aircraft could at the same time expedite oil exploration operations in the interior of Oman. Pembrokes light transport aircraft and heavier Avro Ansons from 1417 Communication Flight RAF carried out reconnaissance "and other tasks during this operation against the Imamate and were the first aircraft ever to land at Nizwa marked "Nazwa" on the chart on a roughly cleared strip which proved extremely hazardous for the pilots but which was later transformed into a passable airfield" Lee p. 22. The present chart has two pencilled lines radiating from Masira airfield one of which passes through Nizwa near which is marked the "approx. position" of an airstrip. The chart bear the proviso that they should "not be taken as an authority on names" and that "the alignment of all tracks is approximate". Users were also directed to update information and highlight errors which were to be directly sent to the Director of the Military Survey in the War Office. There are noticeable graphical variations between the chart and map as fitting their usage. Before the Second World War pilots flew using landmarks - such as train tracks or roads - as pointers which meant that they relied on perfect weather conditions. However technological advances in aviation alongside the use of radio for more accurate navigation meant that to a degree pilots could work in more challenging conditions. This meant that maps with their focus on terrain and details relevant from the perspective of ground troops would become irrelevant when observed from a plane's altitude. Therefore a number of countries started to produce charts highlighting key information by reducing the contour structure and focusing on key landmarks necessary for aviators. The Muscat-Masira map uses a five-colour tint scale to distinguish altitude includes a glossary and key the latter identifying towns given four categories of importance significant ruins geographical features such as mountains hills marshes saddles and passes rivers water holes and man-made features such as railways roads tracks telegraph lines pipelines and pumping stations mosques and temples; tribal and regional names are also given. However reflecting the simplification required by pilots the S. E. Arabia chart only uses fives tones to highlight land mountains paths and the sea. These maps intended for use in the field would have had a high rate of attrition; WorldCat locates just a handful of copies of the Muscat-Masira map whilst S.E. Arabia 4802 is well represented institutionally but decidedly uncommon on the market. Two colour printed maps the first 1: 1000000 scale 860 x 640 mm the second 1:500000 scale 1100 x 825 mm. Both with creases from old folds and some minor marginal splits and spots the second with pencil lines marking a flight route from Masira Island and a notation in the margin; both remain very good. Sir David Lee The RAF in the Mediterranean and Middle East 1945-71 1978. unknown