anotherthing, give them time, give them time.
In answer to the OP, the reporter or author probably gets an official brief or handout, bashes out the obligatory number of words and emails or phones it in (depending on circumstances). The Sub then tells the photo department I want a punchy photo of an aircraft to go with the XYZ article.
The archivists possibly aren't even told the aircraft type and simply pull what they think is the best, not previously used that week, photo, and bingo - cr^p.