RAF air photography has come a long way from faltering beginnings over the trenches of the Western Front during World War I, when unwieldy plate cameras were fixed on the cockpit sides of Royal Aircraft Factory BE2 biplanes. By the close of World War II, dedicated photo-reconnaissance Spitfires could photograph the enemy by day, while Mosquitoes could operate by day or night from heights up to 36,000 feet. With the quantum leap in recent decades of electronics and optical imagery, Panavia Tornado GRs can use video-tape with a data link to relay pictures to image analysts on the ground, thus doing away with "wet" film techniques. This book was written at the request of the Association of Royal Air Force Photography Officers. Using official and personal records, the author traces the development of air photography from the earliest days to the present era. His detailed narrative is supported by more than 400 photographs with exhaustively researched captions, making it a comprehensive history on the RAF's photo-reconnaissance capability.
- ISBN10 0750932562
- ISBN13 9780750932561
- Publish Date 14 March 2003 (first published 25 April 1996)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 15 February 2008
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher The History Press Ltd
- Imprint Sutton Publishing Ltd
- Edition New edition
- Format Paperback
- Pages 352
- Language English