Eyes of the RAF: A History of Photo-reconnaissance

by Air Chief Marshal Sir Neil Wheeler (Foreword), Roy Conyers Nesbit (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1997

  $3.24

  Photo-reconnaissance has come a long way from its faltering beginnings over the trenches of the Western Front during World War I, when unwieldy plate cameras were held over the cockpit sides of RFC BE2a biplanes. By the close of World War II, designated PR Spitfires could photograph Germany by day, while Mosquitoes could photograph by day or night with considerable success from heights of up to 36,000 feet. Following ten years of incredible advances in digital, optical and mechanical technology, the mid-1990s saw the RAF's Tornado GR1As using video-tape for PR, with a data link to relay pictures direct to interpreters on the ground, thus doing away altogether with wet film. This illustrated history 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 photo-reconnaissance from its earliest days. His narrative is supported by detailed illustrations.

• Used

  Paperback
  2003

  $11.06

  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.