Anyone knows which camera was used in WW 2 normally on Auster aircraft to take semi vertical photos and how many photos could be taken with one magazine? An additional question: Was it possible that the Operator of the camera could be reset the sequential numbering during the flight which occurred on the left bottom edge of every photo? Regards Jabo
Austers were not normally used for photo reconnaissance missions. In British service it equipped the RAF Air OP Squadrons and flown by army artillery officers. These were slow aircraft flown mainly over allied lines or close to them. Photo recce was usually carried out by recce variants of the spitfire, Mustang and Mosquito. These aircraft were fast enough to penetrate German airspace. However, during the Normandy campaign some Air OPs worked closely with the Recce Wing and acquired cameras of the above type. The films were developed by the RAF.
In my case it was a photo mission carried out by No. 658 Squadron for Royal Engineers 12th Corps on 14th April 1945. The order was to make a run along the Weser and Aller River around Verden (Lower Saxony). According the ORB of No. 659 Squadron the Auste took off at 16:15 h. First run was made 16:20 h second run was unplanned and was made because a Typhoon attack occured on houses near Verden and one Thyphoon was seen shot down by the Auster crew. The crew believed smoke from the attack and from the crashed aircraft may could hidden important details. On 14th April 1945 only on Thyphon crashed close to Verden, F/Sgt. Pennant from No. 137 Squadron who was killed. BUT... the ORB of No. 137 Squadron state the four Typhoons took off at 17:01 h from Hopsten AF (B-112). and that F/Sgt. Pennant was shot down by light flak. Last three Typhoons landed 17:56 h at Hopsten. Why could the Auster crew see the accident more than an half hour earlier than the take off of the Thyphoons? What is wrong?
On this page there are numerous details about the incident mentioned that might be helpful: Verden Units Royal Engineers - old family photo Purely from the perspective of the aerial photographs shown there, I would assume the F.24 camera shown by CL1:
Here is a reference for a photo recon Auster A.O.P.9 of the S.A.A.F., built to a specification similar to the Mk. 9 used by the British Army. Modifications include provision for an F.24 camera in rear cabin. For the sake of completeness, also a dedicated mobile printer, used for manually printing images from an F24 camera film. F24 Apparatus compare with: ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, 1939-1943. It might have been used by a Mobile Field Photographic Section (MFPS) unit (http://www.jshawmsc.f2s.com/mfps.htm), that followed RAF reconnaissance squadrons to rapidly process and print their films. These units had large, mostly automated, Multiprinters, but could use manual contact printers as a backup, or for more specific jobs. I can only explain the time difference of one hour by the fact that one source used Greenwich Mean Time and one source used European Central Time - for whatever reason.
