The Aerial Reconnaissance Archives (WWII)

[WSUCougar]

I heard about this new website several weeks ago, but it got absolutely clobbered with hits and was basically swamped into submission.

Well, it’s back up now, with some semblance of what it has to offer. I’ve quoted their “Who are we?” section from the website below, but the short version is that it’s a massive database of aerial recon photos from World War II.

Here's the link: Aerial Reconnaissance Archives

Our aim is to make the aerial reconnaissance photographs, deposited by the UK Ministry of Defence at TARA, accessible via the internet. You can now access 5.5 million photographs taken over occupied Western Europe, by the Allies during World War II. Work continues on millions more photographs, taken throughout the world, during World War II and later conflicts. The archives at TARA, chart the development of photographic reconnaissance and intelligence from a position of virtual insignificance during the early part of World War II, to an integral part of Military Intelligence.

During World War II, the Allied Central Interpretation Unit (ACIU), based at Medmenham, was the headquarters of photographic intelligence. In a similar way to the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, the ACIU had a high priority in the recruitment of all staff. Like the code-breakers, the photographic-interpreters played a key role in winning the war. No attack, whether a bombing raid, the landing of a few men on a beach or a massive landing of an army, was possible without the preparation of target material at the ACIU. The photographic techniques used, made it possible for the interpreters to view the enemy’s activities in 3D, and allowed them to prepare highly detailed Interpretation Reports. For further information on the fascinating story of World War II photographic reconnaissance and intelligence, please read a recent BBCi article by our Head of Digitisation.

By 1945, millions of aerial reconnaissance images of the world had been accumulated at Medmenham. The vast archive contained a visual record of the world at war. After the war, interest in the aerial imagery grew amongst University geographers and archaeologists, many of whom had been photographic interpreters . There followed a long series of discussions between Professor Stanley Beaver of Keele University and the Air Ministry, that eventually led to the transfer of ACIU photographs of Western Europe to Keele. In 1962, 5.5 million reconnaissance photographs in 40,000 boxes were transferred over a 14 month period. The fact many pilots never returned from reconnaissance sorties requires that their loss should not be forgotten. The Aerial Reconnaissance Archives is a memorial of a most practical and living kind.

For decades, the ACIU Archive has been mainly used by the European bomb-disposal industry, as a means of locating unexploded bombs. The time-consuming and complicated process of searching the Archive, meant few others used the resource. That said, in 2000 imagery was sourced from the Archive for the Steven Spielberg production “Band of Brothers”. Over the last two years, we have digitised all the card-index-systems, and mapping used to search the Archive. Through evidenceincamera .co.uk you can now make a search in minutes that previously took many hours. If you want to look at a photograph of where your parents and grandparents campaigned, lived, fought in Western Europe you can. In the light of what we know today about past events and ourselves, looking down on where we, or our families once lived can be a profoundly moving experience.

THE GX ARCHIVE
At the close of World War II in Europe, the Allied forces uncovered a mass of German photographic reconnaissance, hidden in many locations. Under great secrecy, operation “Turban” saw all the material shipped to the ACIU. Each discovery was given a “collection” name. The largest was found at Berchesgarten, in July 1945, and christened “Dick Tracy”. The painstaking job of item-level assessment, classification, and storage at the Unit was estimated to have taken 500 people years of time.

Dubbed the “GX Photos”, this reconnaissance photography was highly prized because of its coverage of Soviet cities, industrial areas, shipyards, and military bases. During the Cold War, it proved to be an important source of intelligence, and until relatively recently was a secret NATO asset. The British GX Archive is now declassified and at TARA. Work, to make the archive internet accessible, is due to begin in early 2004.

Whew!

[Tasan]

Oh yeah, I heard about this right after it came out as well. The poor server was bombarded with hits and just about went tits up. Glad to see it back up and running well. Hopefully they haven't pulled too much of their content.

[Fritz]

whoa

super cool

[tucker342]

very cool, thanks for posting the link