Photographers > Tom Aitken
(17) N.400 - One of our planes over the German lines taking observations
Thumbnail gallery: Grid view | List view
Universal Viewer | 
Mirador | Large image
Images and transcriptions on this page, including medium image downloads, may be used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence unless otherwise stated. 
| First World War 'Official Photographs' > Photographers > Tom Aitken > (17) N.400 - One of our planes over the German lines taking observations |
|---|
| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/74549012 |
|---|---|
| Description | British reconnaissance plane flying over enemy lines, in France, during World War I. This innovative photograph of a two-man biplane on a flight over enemy lines was taken by the photographer flying in another plane. Both planes would have been travelling at around 100 mph and flying at an altitude of several thousand feet. RAF markings can clearly be seen on the fuselage, wings and tail of the biplane, which looks like a Bristol F-2. In addition to carrying out reconnaissance duties and participating in 'dogfights', air raids against ground targets increased as the war dragged on. These bombing raids were mostly aimed at supply dumps, camps and railway stations, though the front line trenches were also an obvious target. As aircraft technology advanced, the greater range allowed to planes meant that civilian targets could also be attacked, with London and Paris both suffering bombing raids. [Original reads: 'OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ON THE BRITISH WESTERN FRONT IN FRANCE. One of our planes over the German lines taking observations. This picture was taken from another machine in flight, thousands of feet high in the air.'] |
More information
|
|
| Description | Tom Aitken was a newspaper photographer from Glasgow who was assigned in December 1917 as a war photographer along with David McLellan and Armando Consolé. McLellan's work also features in the National Library of Scotland’s Haig Papers. War photographers held a hybrid position during World War I, being part of yet not ultimately responsible to the military. |
|---|---|
|
More information
|
|
| Description | Photographs by named photographers. |
|---|
| Description | Black-and-white photographs mainly of the Western Front during the First World War. Official British war photographers took many of them for propaganda purposes. Unless otherwise stated, titles are the photographs' original captions. From the papers of Field Marshal (Earl) Haig (1861-1928). The Haig Papers also contain Douglas Haig’s diaries. |
|---|---|
| Shelfmark | Acc.3155 |
|
More information
|
|