World War 2 Photo Intelligence

London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1982. This is from the dustwrapper: " Using more than 500 photographs and documents from military archives, Col. Roy M. Stanley , an expert in modem photo intelligence systems, has assembled the first comprehensive history of aerial photo intelligence operations during World War 2 a crucial part of the air battle that has until now remained virtually unknown. Nothing in the World War 11 intelligence arsenal was as effective as aerial photoreconnaissance for determining the deployment of enemy forces, the location of bombing targets, the effectiveness of bombing missions, and for essential mapmaking. Col. Stanley reconstructs the theoretical and technological development of military photo intelligence operations from the early days of the prewar buildup with cameras jury-rigged into available airplanes to the peak of the war, with the fastest, highest-flying planes fitted with new cameras capable of photographing accurately at great speeds and altitudes. He also compares the photoreconnaissance capabilities of the World War 11 combatants the numbers and types of planes used, the quality of the cameras, and the sophistication of the intelligence network for establishing targets, interpreting the imagery, and distributing the intelligence gathered with the maximum of speed and secrecy and explains the effects of these operations on the outcome of the war. Col. Stanley describes in special detail the typical photoreconnaissance mission and the skills necessary for making a mission successful: the flying techniques essential for taking usable photographs, the methods of processing film quickly for rapid tactical assessments, and, most important, the hard-learned craft of photo interpretation identifying ships, planes, land vehicles, and artillery, assessing the damage inflicted in bombing missions, tracing the movement of enemy forces, and fighting the unending battle between camouflage and detection. Spectacular, previously unpublished photographs illustrate every section of this ground breaking work, a history not just of air, land, and sea battles, but of the intense struggles carried out in the labs and staff rooms in every theater of the war." 374 pages, 9 X 11 inches. Very good book in a very good dustwrapper with a little edge wear.. First Edition.