Where to find digitised aerial photography from the 1940s?

November 25, 2019 2:08 AM

Our borough council has an online mapping service that includes a layer of 1940s aerial photography. I'm trying to buy this, as it would help in planning habitat restoration on a nature reserve I manage, but not having any luck finding it.

The Council planning department say that the person who worked on that project has since left, and they don't know where it is from;
The County Archivist doesn't know either, but recommended I contact Getmapping;
Getmapping do not hold this imagery, and they also checked with oldaerialphotos.com, who don't have it either;
The National Collection of Aerial Photography also do not have it.
I have also spoken with an MoD ecologist, who has never heard of it and couldn't help.

Where else could I look for this photography?

posted by sarahdal to Science & Nature (3 answers total)

Best answer: I can't find a digital version, but I think what you are looking for OS photomosaics and the British Library has a copy. (They also seem to have electronic versions).
posted by scorbet at 3:15 AM on November 25, 2019

Response by poster: Brilliant - I never thought of the BL! Thank you!
posted by sarahdal at 3:45 AM on November 25, 2019

Response by poster: Looks like it was using data held by Landmap project, which lost funding in 2014 and was closed down, with the data moved to the NERC Earth Observation Data Centre.
posted by sarahdal at 3:59 AM on November 25, 2019 [1 favorite]