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Old 15th May 2011, 08:01
  #31 (permalink)  
Hipper
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Hertfordshire
Age: 70
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Unfortunately Constance Babbington Smith died in 2000. Here's an obituary:

Obituary: Constance Babington Smith | World news | The Guardian

She seemed a nice lady and was very helpful when I was in contact with her.

I hope this is a good programme but I don't see what is new about it. The Penemunde photos have been available for years and so have the stereoscopes to look at them in 3D.

In the 1980s and 90s I was researching WW2 German warships and there were plenty of Photo Reconnaisance Unit pictures of them too. To look at them through a stereoscope was excellent - the masts would come up and poke you in the eye!

These PRU aerial photos can be found scattered in many places, including the National Archives at Kew where the full story of the PRU is recorded, along with I believe the complete set of Interpretation Reports of these photo sorties. 'Evidence in Camera' was the name of the PRU's in-house magazine that showed the more interesting photos).

The Photographs they refer to in the programme were originally held at Keele University. Keele did not have the negatives (I was told that as they were made of unstable nitrate film they were destroyed, but I suspect JARIC at RAF Brampton has some and the U.S. National Archives may also have more - I bought photos from both these places). Keele copied the photos to microfilm and it was from this that you could study them and buy copies. This is the most complete collection and is now at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Other sources to fill any gaps include the two mentioned above plus the RAF Museum and the Imperial War Museum.

I wish the Beeb, or someone else, would tell the full story of the WW2 PRU, from Sidney Cotton onwards. It's a great story but only seems to be told in scraps like this programme.
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