AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 96, 20 October 1936, Page 18

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

RAF. CONTEST FOR TROPHY

(From "Tfie Post's" Representative.) LONDON, September 12.

Aerial photography ranks among the essential duties of a military air service; Evidence secured by the airborne camera yields vital information to the staff officer and the artillery commander. During the war work done by the photographic aeroplanes, especially on the Western Front, was an essential cog in-the machinery of ground operations, revealing in, a wealthy of detail the state of affairs on the enemy line and behind it, showing day to day changes in the disposition of troops and earthworks, and providing exact information for the guidance of long-range batteries. Developed under the stress of the war years to a high standard of efficiency, aerial photography has made big strides since '1918. Cameras capable of far more exact working are now in general use, good pictures can be obtained jn conditions of visibility that would have closed down all photographic activity twenty years ago, and the discovery of "infra-red" photography has extended the scope of the camera eye to incredible distances. Each new device is examined with a view to its adoption by the Royal Air Force.

, The importance of efficient aerial photography is recognised annually in the Royal Air Force by the award of a trophy, the gift of Sir Philip Sassoori, Under-Secretary of State for Air, to the unit of the service which does best in a stringent test devised by the School of Photography, Farnborough. Ten units entered for this year's contest, the winner, now announced, being No. 101 (Bomber) Squadron, which is stationed at Bicester, and which actually secured 92.7 per cent, of to.tal possible marks in this most difficult contest. Details of the contest vary from year to year. In essence each competing unit must produce a photographic "mosaic" of an area of country within thirty miles of its home aerodrome. The area must not exceed thirty square miles in extent and may be triangular or irregularly quadrilateral in shape. The scale to which the "mosaic" must be produced lies between 1 in 8000 and 1 in 20,000. No photographs previously taken may be used. Marks are awarded for speed in production and dispatch for judging to the School of Photography, as well as for the technical excellence of the product. Each competing unit must report exactly the weather conditions prevailing between the official opening day of the contest and the date of dispatch of the "mosaic." It must also report the times taken in the actual photographic flying and in the production of the "mosaic" from the photographs secured. The methods adopted are not excessively stereotyped, and are taken into ! consideration by. the judges.