Museum Metadata Exchange

Names

Name PrimaryGuide to the Gallipoli Aerial Photograph Collection

IDs

ID LocalAWM00001

ID Urihttp://www.awm.gov.au/findingaids/special/aerial_photos/gallipoliaerialphotos.xml

Descriptions

Brief DescriptionNumbered photographs taken by the Royal Naval Air Service, Gallipoli, October - November 1915

Full DescriptionThis collection includes aerial photographs taken over Anzac and south Suvla areas by the Royal Naval Air Services in October and November 1915. By this point in the campaign the last great push had failed and most trenches were well established - developing into complex systems. SERIES 1: Index to Royal Naval Air Service photographs. Description: This collection contains the index cards to the aerial photographs in Series 2. These cards were probably typed up some time between 1915 and 1920. Some of the cards have been annotated with extra notes. SERIES 2: Numbered photographs taken by the Royal Naval Air Service October - November 1915. Description: This collection includes aerial photographs taken over Anzac and south Suvla areas by the Royal Naval Air Services in October and November 1915. By this point in the campaign the last great push had failed and most trenches were well established - developing into complex systems. SERIES 3: Miscellaneous aerial photographs. Description: This collection contains an assortment of aerial photographs that fall outside Series 2. It includes aerial photographs taken at some point before the August offensive and miscellaneous photographs taken around October 1915. This collection also includes pices of cut up aerial photographs, however these have not been listed individually.

SignificanceThis collection contributes to the understanding of the development and use of aerial photography and topographic mapping in times of war. This collection includes aerial photographs taken over Anzac and south Suvla areas by the Royal Naval Air Services in October and November 1915. Aerial photography was still experimental. Most of the early photography at Gallipoli was taken by Flight Lieutenant CH Butler, from 4 April until the end of June when he was badly wounded. Initially he used a small folding Goertz-Anschutz camera, but eventually borrowed a better camera from a French Squadron. During his time photographing, he exposed approximately 700 plates, piecing them together to create photomosiacs for the creation of maps. From time to time these maps were passed to army headquarters. It was the end of August before a regular photographic section was organised. Initially aerial photography for intelligence and map revision involved low flying using improvised photographic equipment. However anti aircraft defences led to the need for aircraft to fly higher to avoid being shot. This meant cameras needed to be able to take photos at greater heights and so needed to have greater focal lengths.

RightsContact Senior Curator, Published & Digitised Collections, Research Centre, Australian War Memorial.

AccessOpen - Contact Senior Curator, Published & Digitised Collections, Research Centre, Australian War Memorial.

NoteSelected additional and related material available at http://www.awm.gov.au/search/collections/ using the search terms described under 'subject _local'. Copies of many items from the Memorial's collections may also be purchased @ http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/sales/.

Subjects

local20th century; Aerial Photograph Collection; Aerial Photographs; Aerial photography; First World War; Gallipoli; Landscape photography; Published & Digitised Collections; Stereoscope; Topographic mapping; World War One

pontAerial Photographs

person_orgFlight Lieutenant CH Butler

scotWorld wars

Coverage Spatial

TextSuvla Bay, Turkey; Chanak, Turkey; Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey

Coverage Temporal

From1915

To1915

Related Collections

Dates

Date Record Updated2012-05-30 23:40