Aerofilms: A History of Britain from Above By James Crawford, Katy Whitaker, Al

Historic England Publishing

AerofilmsA history of Britain from above\nAuthor(s): James Crawford, Katy Whitaker, Allan Williams\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Historic England, United Kingdom\nImprint: Historic England\nISBN-13: 9781848022485, 978-1848022485\nSynopsis\nAerofilms Ltd was born on 9 May 1919. An unprecedented business venture, it hoped to marry the still fledgling technology of powered flight to the discipline of photography. Its founders were Claude Grahame-White, an internationally-famous English aviation pioneer, and Francis Lewis Wills, a trained architect who had flown as an observer for the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War. Together they embarked on a distinctively British tale of derring-do. From developing photographic glass plates in a hotel bathroom at the London Flying Club in Hendon, to producing many thousands of aerial images every year, they took a tool which had first been used for military intelligence, and repackaged it for the mass market.\nAs a result, Aerofilms.