Harold Charles Gatty (5 January 1903 – 30 August 1957) was an Australian navigator and aviation pioneer. Charles Lindbergh called Gatty the "Prince of Navigators." In 1931, Gatty served as navigator, along with pilot Wiley Post, on the flight which set the record for aerial circumnavigation of the world, flying a distance of 15,747 miles (24,903 km) in a Lockheed Vega named the Winnie Mae, in 8 days, 15 hours and 51 minutes.
Gatty was born on 5 January 1903 in Campbell Town, Tasmania.
He began his career as a navigator at the age of 14, on 1 January 1917, when he was appointed a midshipman at the Royal Australian Naval College at Jervis Bay. Ironically, in light of his later prominence in the field, Gatty struggled to pass his courses in navigation.
Gatty withdrew from the Naval College in May 1920 to join the Australian merchant navy. For three years he was an apprentice ship's officer with the Patrick Steamship Company of Sydney. He served on many ships, some sailing between Australia and California. As a result of standing night watch, Gatty became an expert in celestial navigation.
For a time he worked in the provisioning of merchant vessels in Sydney Harbour.
In 1927, Gatty relocated to California, where he opened a navigation school, teaching marine navigation to yachtsmen. In 1928, his attention turned to air navigation.
In 1929, Gatty navigated a Lockheed Vega on a flight from Los Angeles to New York City for Nevada Airlines, in an effort to demonstrate the feasibility of coast-to-coast passenger service. The flight made four stops and took 19 hours and 53 minutes, which set the transcontinental airspeed record for a commercial airliner.
In 1930, Gatty prepared a coast-to-coast route and navigation charts for Anne Morrow Lindbergh, who he had taught as a student. Anne Lindbergh served as navigator with her husband Charles on a record-setting cross-country flight of 14 hours and 45 minutes.
In 1931, Wiley Post asked Gatty to accompany him on an effort to break the world record for circumnavigating the Earth, which was previously set at 21 days by the Graf Zeppelin airship. Gatty accepted, hoping to demonstrate the effectiveness of his navigation methods. The journey began on 23 June 1931 at Roosevelt Field in New York and followed a 15,000-mile course across Europe, Russia, and Siberia, due to the lack of suitable airfields nearer the equator.
Post and Gatty crossed the Atlantic, from Harbour Grace to Flintshire, in a record time of 16 hours and 17 minutes. They continued to Berlin, Moscow, and Khabarovsk, then crossed the Bering Sea, landing on the beach near Solomon, Alaska, then to Edmonton, Alberta, arriving back at Roosevelt Field after 8 days, 15 hours, and 51 minutes.
The pair received a Ticker tape parade in New York City.
Along "The Canyon of Heroes" in New York City are thermal granite pavers on Broadway, marking the 204 Ticker Tape Parades.
No. 38 states "Wiley Post and Harold Gatty for their flight around the World/ Eight days, 15 hours, 51 minutes."
Air navigation in Gatty's time used dead reckoning. When setting out for a destination the aircraft heading is taken with respect to a compass. Motion over the Earth is determined by the wind triangle. Heading must therefore be compensated for wind speed as well as drift rate.
In 1931 Popular Mechanics published an article featuring Gatty's method for computing the wind drift experienced by an aircraft:
Gatty's invention consists of an endless film cut across by fine parallel lines. This strip of film moves at a speed synchronous with that of the plane over the Earth. The navigator looks through a periscope and makes his observations of the ground. He found the device quite satisfactory, but intends to define it further.
The article lauded the artificial horizon and turn and bank indicator that Post and Gatty used, which was developed by Lawrence Sperry and manufactured by the Sperry Gyroscope Company.
Later in 1931, Wiley Post and Harold Gatty co-wrote a complete and detailed account of their record setting circumnavigation. Around the World in Eight Days, The Flight of the Winnie Mae. described their preparations for the flight, and each leg of the journey. Map endpapers were included. In this book, Gatty gave a detailed account of a method of dead reckoning he invented that revolutionized the ability of navigators to fly safely through cloudy conditions, without drifting off course through cumulative errors.