WWII Cloth Maps

fabric maps!
Over christmas my mother gave me some maps/charts that my Grandma had. They’re charts of the Pacific ocean with currents and political boundaries printed on some sort of fabric. This site suggests that the maps are printed on rayon, though others say silk. Apparently the idea came out of MI9, a sub-unit of British Intelligence as a means to provide compact, foldable maps that could be used for troops to escape capture and return safely. I’m not sure what the exact intent of these maps was, or what my great-uncle used them for, but they’re pretty damn cool.

The two I got (well, three – but two are duplicates) are an Army-Air Force series of Japan and the South China Sea (No. C-52) and a Naval Air Combat Intelligence-Hydrographic Office map of the Western Pacific with two sides for different currents during different seasons (NACI-HO No. S-12). The idea for the maps is pretty dark but really quite functional and they have definitely stood up well over time. I wonder how one goes about printing on silk with an ink-jet?

bikini atol
This one has the Bikini Atoll on it, which is one of those places you really hope you didn’t find yourself during WWII. Imagine looking for landmarks and seeing a mushroom cloud. That’d really inspire you to keep trying to find your way back to civilization.

We’re trying to think of something cool to do with the maps but it’s hard to decide because both sides have something. I’d feel guilty about making some boxers out of it, and well, scarfs just aren’t my thing.

3 thoughts on “WWII Cloth Maps”

  1. That’s cool. How much fabric is there? You could make curtains, or a pillow. Unless you really have the urge to wear it. Then you could make a tie (but I have heard ties actually require a huge amount of fabric. Take apart a tie sometime if you are bored).

  2. I was over at Glin and Heather’s place last night and Glin (who for a while now has developed some fascination with maps and geography) had bought the coolest shower curtains: They’re clear vinyl coverd completely in a whole-world political map. Really cool.

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