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3. U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Eagle

**Disney's Iconic Cartoon Family Includes a Lesser Known Eagle**  NOAA has its own Disney icon, which, though not associated with a holiday, did much to lift the spirits of those who served in World War II. Ocean Survey logo*The Walt Disney Studio’s inspired insignias,  such as the U.S.  Coast & Geodetic Survey Eagle designed for one of NOAA’s predecessor  agencies, raised the troops’ spirits. By the end of World War II, Disney had  completed more than 1,200 unit insignias. The company never charged a fee to  the military.* A Sharp-eyed Surveyor C&GS Eagle crest*The eagle design created by Disney was most likely based on this old Coast Survey crest  of an eagle sitting on a globe.*
 This Disney "character" of lesser fame but equal significance  — at least as  far as NOAA is concerned — is the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (C&GS) Eagle.  During World War II, The Walt Disney Studio actually designed an insignia for  the C&GS – the predecessor of NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey, Center for Operational Oceanographic  Products and Services, National Geodetic Survey, and Office of Marine  and Aviation Operations. In Disney’s design, an eagle stands atop a globe, busily carrying out a  most important C&GS task — making paper nautical charts. He wears a sailor’s hat to signify the maritime nature of charting work and the  uniforms worn by ships’ officers and crew.  In one wing, he holds a pencil  with which to enter information on the chart he holds in place with his titanic  talons. With the other, he supports a sextant, through which he  peers with famously sharp eyes to carefully measure the angles between objects  on shore with known positions. These measurements determined the position of  the survey vessel in the water. C&GS’s Role in the War Throughout WWII, C&GS officers and civilians served in North Africa, Europe, and the Pacific in a variety of technical  positions that included artillery surveyors, hydrographers,  amphibious engineers, and reconnaissance surveyors for the worldwide  aeronautical charting effort. In Europe, C&GS  artillery surveyors assured the success of the devastating tactic of  "time-on-target," a method of coordinating various artillery  batteries to concentrate their fire on a single point. In the Pacific, C&GS  ships often operated in advance of fleet units. Francis X. Popper surveying in vicinity of mangroves.*U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Capt. Francis X. Popper, surveying in the Phillipines in 1944. The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey was one of NOAA’s predecessor agencies.* C&GS amphibious engineers were regimental navigators for Army engineer  shore and boat regiments that moved men and supplies during General Douglas MacArthur's  innovative “leap-frog” strategy from New Guinea on up into the Philippines in  1944. Throughout the war, C&GS officers also traveled the world as  reconnaissance surveyors for the Army Air Forces, pioneering many of today’s civil  air routes. On the home front, C&GS chart makers provided close to 100 million charts and maps  to the Allied Forces. These efforts included press runs of more than 1,800  target charts of such pivotal places as Ploesti and Hiroshima. The Eagle Peers On Disney’s C&GS Eagle remains a beloved NOAA icon. It was painted on the  smoke stack of a survey ship and the nose of a survey aircraft, carved on the  front door of a house, and emblazoned on t-shirts, caps, patches, and a U.S.  Postal Service first day cover.
 **Did you know?** *In 1807, President Thomas Jefferson signed a bill for the "Survey of the Coast," thus establishing the U.S. Coast Survey, the beginning of the oldest scientific agency in the U.S. Government. In 1878, it was renamed the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. Initially, the U.S. Coast Survey was part of the Department of the Treasury. In 1904, it was transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor, and in 1970 it became an office within NOAA.*   More **Information** Historic Coast and Geodetic Survey Collection (NOAA Photo Library) NOAA Corps history National Geodetic Survey history Office of Coast Survey history Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services    Get **Social** Social
  **Last updated:** 09/28/22 **Author:** NOAA How to cite this article Contact Us


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