This type of distortion is very common in old helicopter photo's and were the result of rotary bladed type shutters, coupled with the generally slower films and exposures in use, back in the dark ages.
As Mighty Gem pointed out, this type of distortion does not occur with "normal" curtain type shutters which describe the system in use by the vast majority of film camera's still in use today.
What did they take those pictures with?
And yes, even film can lie. Let's not get into digital imaging!
