became deeply involved with assessing naval aviation's disastrous safety record and ultimately helped develop the Naval Aviation Safety Center, today's Naval Safety Center. After the war he was training director of the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, Texas Air Station; commander of the Naval Air Station Olathe in Olathe, Kansas (which was renamed "Flatley Field" from 1962–1969); and commander of the Naval Station Norfolk in Norfolk, Virginia followed by command of the carrier . He also held various staff positions. He retired from the Navy on June 2, 1958 and was promoted to vice admiral concurrent with his retirement. He died barely a month after his retirement at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on July 9, 1958 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery two days later. Tactician During the attack on the Shōhō, Flatley observed numerous torpedo and dive bombers wasting their ordnance on an already finished carrier, instead of diverting to other intact ships. Based on this observation, he later proposed that a designated strike coordinator be assigned during future operations to assign targets. Flatley criticized the practice of launching numerous small strikes piecemeal, as happened at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, since he felt strongly that one large force could accomplish much more than several small ones. Flatley — along with John S. Thach and Butch O'Hare — was instrumental in communicating tactical advice throughout naval aviation, and changing the perception that the F4F Wildcat was inferior to the Japanese Zero. Flatley's belief was that it was superior to the Zero when properly utilized, saying of the Wildcat: "Let us not be too critical of our equipment. It shoots the enemy down in flames and brings most of us home." He was not overly impressed by the Zero, but attributed the Japanese fighter's success to the high quality of Japanese pilots. His writeup on enemy capabilities received favorable notice at senior levels of the U.S. Navy. The expression "Thach Weave" did not come into the lexicon until Flatley named it in his after action report for the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. He recounted how Lieutenant Commander John S. Thach’s "beam defense tactic" had allowed him to escape almost certain destruction during the battle. Flatley wrote: ". . . the four-plane division is the only thing that will work, and I am calling it the Thach Weave."Flatley later