Historic Aerial Photo Resources

[PETERTHEEATER]

Also CANMORE has a Lottery grant to help finance the digitisation (what a clumsy word!) of the former Aerofilm collection which means, in due course, thousands of images will be available on-line:

http://aerial.rcahms.gov.uk/news/news100927.php

[tsamue]

Just thought I'd add that www.ukaerialphotos.com does have 1940's RAF and Luftwaffe aerial photography. It's got national coverage too.

[norwichpaul]

Yes but, no but, they are very expensive to buy!

[PETERTHEEATER]

Yes expensive! The RAF photo recce sorties were funded by the British taxpayer and, as a national heritage item, should be digitised and made available on-line as per the Scottish CANMORE site. And, presumably, the Luftwaffe film was captured by the Allies post VE Day yet is only available through commercial sources. Something wrong here!

[Jenna]

Interesting read, I have been searching for aerial photos of the village airfield to no avail for many years... most 'providers' stop 200 meters short of field I need!

I have noticed that most the commercial sellers (eg: UKaerialphoto) are selling the very same photos at a high price as what you view on Virtual Earth for nothing?

[PNK]

Thanks tsamue. A number of us have used that site but it is still worth mentioning. I did actually buy a photo from the site only for it to appear a few months later on Google earth for free and slighlty better quality! I assume the high cost of old photos is due to the work carried out to make it viewable as seamless. The coverage doesn't seem to extend as far as their coverage map, which is confusing. One area I was interested in was Dengie Flats, it is covered but by some form of mottled unreadable aerial photos. I haven't checked recently but so I assume my comment still hold.
If you know sortie and frame numbers for your area of interest you can order Laser copies from English Heritage for a lot less and they are very acceptable for most uses. The key problem is getting the photo details.

Expensive is the main problem. Most of us would like many photos of many sites and this requires a lottery win. I have around 50 aerial photos from NMR (English Heritage) and although a lot cheaper is still a couple of hundred pounds worth!

The cost of the Luftwaffe ones via private companies is beyond belief (not the http://www.ukaerialphotos.com/ ones in this case)

Canmore is a great example of what should be done and at £10 for a high resolution download is about right. The extra £15 to enable publishing is a bit steep for more than one photo though.

It's a great shame NARA/Fold3.com don't publish the Luftwaffe photos.

[PNK]

More updates and some look very interesting. This is from the "M" series, some of which have already been released. It is best to view the locations on Google Earth via their search related link and download.

Lossiemouth - 1941 (before runways)
Kinloss - 1941 (before runways)
Elgin
Nutts Corner 1945 - Why???
Ayr
Dumfries
Tiree
Port Ellen

And probably a lot more. Not good for ranges as the few that appear I had already purchased in digital form. It did have a shot of the QS at Innes Links and was of the type found at Dee (Burton) Marsh and Fenns Moss.

Don't forget you have to subscribe to get larger versions via a zoom function.

[PNK]

Just a thought but would it be worth posting the frame references for aerial photos of airfields, depots, ranges etc that members have either bought or found online references for? Ordering copies from NMR at Swindon is far easier and can cover multiple locations in a single order without the need for a search first. Also members can vouch for the quality of ones they have seen or bought.
As it is NMR it covers England only so before I post anything (in the audits??) I wanted to see if it was thought to be a worthwhile exercise.

[norwichpaul]

Yep! Go Ahead

[PETERTHEEATER]

The Imperial War Museum has a couple of albums of aerial photographs of most of the NI airfields but, as yet, have not got them digitised for on-line viewing. Here's the link. It's worth keeping an eye on it for future developments:

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205014474