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The U.S. Army began aerial photography after World War I to free them from the time consuming and costly survey parties. Major James W. Bagley was placed in charge of the small engineer detachment at Wright Field to supply aerial photography for military mapping. The experiments of this time period produced methods of aerial mapping that opened up vast areas which would have been denied to a ground surveyor during World War II.

 Identifier

NASM.1991.0034

Creator

United States. Army. Corps of Engineers

Date

1926-1938

Provenance

Dr. Martin Gordon, Gift, 1991, 1991-0034, Public Domain

Extent

1.09 Cubic feet ((1 records center box))

Archival Repository

National Air and Space Museum Archives

Scope and Contents

This collection contains bibliographies, correspondence, reports, articles, pamphlets and drafts of papers on aerial mapping and photography (one authored by Maj. James Bagley). It also contains a dictionary of photographic terms (in German) and material on various cameras and other equipment including Adam Hilger Ltd.'s Survey Stereoscope; Fairchild's Solar Navigator; Brigg's Gyroscope Vertical Indicator; J.G. Saltzman, Inc.'s, lighting and enlarging equipment; Messter Topograph; the Nistri Photocartograph and the Santoni Photogrammetric method (in both English and Italian); and the aerocartograph (blue prints and quadrangle mapping).

Rights

Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests

Restrictions

No restrictions on access

Topics

Aeronautics, Military

Aeronautics

Aerial photography

Cartography

Maps, Military

Cameras

Photography -- Equipment and supplies

Type

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Manuals

Dictionaries

Pamphlets

Articles

Reports

Correspondence

Bibliographies