Cheddar to Bath , via Bristol November 1940 Aerial Film

The previously blogged Wiltshire run is the second half of a much longer sortie. NARA holds 254 prints from the two cameras under box GX 10484, and the item records place them on a single loop. The aircraft crossed the Devon coast at Sidmouth (L 1), flew north past Honiton to the Blackdown Hills, then north-east by Taunton, Bridgwater and the Levels to Cheddar, the Mendips and Bristol. North of Filton it turned east and south, and came back by Doynton and Keynsham to Bath and Freshford, where the Wiltshire frames begin at L 109. After Wiltshire it crossed the New Forest and left the coast at Barton-on-Sea (L 148): some 255 km on the long-lens camera alone.

The film above joins the long-lens frames from Cheddar to Freshford, L 56 to L 108. Fair-weather cumulus covers much of the Mendips, Dundry and Bristol (L 62–88); the ground still matches between the clouds, so the frames join, but the clouds sit far above the ground and shift between exposures. Exposure 86 and exposure 91 are not in the NARA set. L 86 is bridged by a small overlap between 85 and 87; L 91 leaves a short break in the film.

Over Bristol the frames come closer together. Over the Mendips successive frames are about 1,000 scanned pixels apart, over the city about 600, and the camera clocks agree: roughly one exposure every 20 seconds from L 56 to L 76, against one every 10 seconds from L 76 to L 85 (minute-hand readings by eye, good to about half a minute). NARA lists L 87–92, north of Filton, as obliques, although at least L 88 appears near-vertical; the label may reflect the aircraft banking into the turn. No record found names a target.

Bath is clear. On L 105 the Royal Crescent and the Circus stand out above Royal Victoria Park, seventeen months before the air raids of April 1942.

Bath on L 105, 29 November 1940: the Royal Crescent (centre) facing Royal Victoria Park, with the Circus above it. Turned to read roughly north-up. Luftwaffe, NARA RG 373, GX 10484.

Bristol through broken cloud, Bedminster to Ashley Down, L 76–84.

Notes on the film

The landscape film runs at about four times real speed and is turned so that the aircraft flies left to right. Each frame is captioned with its exposure number, NARA's nearest place name and its clock reading. The Cheddar to Bath film is a director's cut, without captions, and ends where the Wiltshire film begins. The music is original.

Sources

• National Archives and Records Administration. German Flown Aerial Photographs, 1939–1945. RG 373, series NAID 306065; file units GX 10484 SG. catalog.archives.gov/id/306065
• National Archives and Records Administration. Target Dossiers Pertaining to the British Isles, 1938–1945. RG 242, series NAID 3371016. catalog.archives.gov/id/3371016
• National Collection of Aerial Photography. German Air Force (Luftwaffe), GB 551 NCAP/4. ncap.as.atlas-sys.com
• Luftwaffedata Wiki. Aufkl. Gr. 123 1940. luftwaffedata.co.uk
• Luftwaffedata Wiki. Aufklärungsgruppe Ob.d.L. luftwaffedata.co.uk
• Daw, T. 2026. The Luftwaffe's Wiltshire. sarsen.org; map at wiltshire-luftwaffe.netlify.app

All photographs: Luftwaffe, 29 November 1940; US National Archives, RG 373, GX 10484, listed as Use: Unrestricted. Frame matching, measurements and film: T. Daw. Methods and scripts: github.com/TimDaw37/wessex-films.