David Holland 2 Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 Just finished reading “Spies in the Sky” by Taylor Downing, about photo-reconnaissance, mainly WW2, but from day one to date. I have been passionate about aviation in the Second World War, the Battle of Britain and the Spitfire (in ascending order) forever, in fact I think my first word was “Spitfire”, but I knew little detail of the work of the PRU. We hear a lot about Bletchley Park (rightly so) but I had never heard of RAF Medmenham though it seems that 80% of intelligence during the war came from photo-reconnaissance and the story of the interpretation of the photos is no less fascinating than that of the pilots taking them. You would not regret reading it. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Harrison 2 Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 I must get hold of this book myself. I know RAF Medmenham (near Marlow, Bucks), or rather I knew it, since my late father was its last Commanding Officer - he had to shut it down, in the 1970s, his last full posting before retirement. By that time of course it had no connection with PR photo interpretation but I was aware of its history. Once, dad invited a former RAF officer to come to the station for some special occasion, a man (desperately trying to recall his name) who'd participated in early photo-reconnaissance over Afghanistan and Pakistan during the 1930s and helped to refine techniques; this was from biplanes, forget which type. He was fascinating to talk to, lovely man, quite elderly by this time of course but still lively - I think he'd written a book on the subject. He might possibly feature in Taylor Downing's book. Tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Holland 2 Posted November 19, 2017 Author Share Posted November 19, 2017 Interesting connection, Tony. Not much in the book about the inter-war years but lots of detail on people involved in the development of the techniques of interpretation. Obvious with the benefit of hindsight but the three stages of analysis of each photo were crucial in extracting some really remarkable information from photos, completely divorced from the subject of the original request for the photo. I bought my copy from Waterstones (other High Street book retailers are available!!). David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i12fly Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 Bough a copy from Waterstones a couple of months back as I thought it looked interesting. Not read it yet as I've got to finish 'Beyond Courage' the story of Walruses in the Med. I'm a slow reader Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Former Member Posted November 20, 2017 Share Posted November 20, 2017 [This posting has been removed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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