Aerial Photos of Italian Camps 1940

Do any of the UK archives hold reconnaissance photos of the Italian camps attacked during Compass? In fact, are there any reconnaissance photos covering the UK operations between 9 Dec 40-8 February 41?

Thank you for any assistance.

v/r Jeff

 

Hi Jeff,

I’m reading “The Eleventh at War” at the moment and note that it includes an aerial photo of the Italian camp at Sofafi dated October 1940. So aerial photos must have been taken, although I can’t remember having seen any others. I’ll keep an eye out though.

Regards

Tom

 

Thank you Tom.

Is it possible for you to scan the photo?

Pista! Jeff

 

Hi Jeff,

I'll try to upload a better scan tomorrow but in the meantime he's a quick photo of the photo!!



Is that what you were hoping for? Unfortunately, I haven't found any suggestions in the book as to where the photo came from.

I haven't got a copy of their war diary for 1940 but someone on here might do.

Otherwise, it might be worth enquiring at their museum:

Archives – Horse Power Museum

Regards

Tom

 

Many thanks Tom. I am actually looking for anything, so this is a great start. Let me geo-location the photo. Looking forward to a better scan tomorrow!

Thank you for the link. Is there an R.A.F. archive, or would this type of material only be found in the national archives?

Pista! Jeff

 

Hi Jeff,

This seems to be the best scan I can do without damaging the book:



I found this snip in the RAF Campaign Narrative:



They can be found here:

https://www.raf.mod.uk/what-we-do/our-history/air-historical-branch/ahb-narratives/

There is a UK collection of aerial photos but a quick look showed they have only very limited coverage of Egypt:

NCAP - National Collection of Aerial Photography | NCAP

Some of the RAF squadron Operational Record Books contain photographs so I'd recommend taking a look at those for 208 and 113 Sqns on-line at the UK National Archives website. You might be lucky! Otherwise a trawl of the relevant war diaries might bear fruit.

Regards

Tom

 

Tom

Thank you so very much in taking the time to look into this issue. Please ask if you need anything I can help with.

I looked at the NCAP site, but nothing covering the area of interest is available.

The picture of Sofafi appears to be the main camp (there was also Sofafi SW and E), but I am not 100% positive. It could be Sofafi E, but I am going with the caption at this point. The picture was taken looking to the south (north is the bottom of the picture). I attempted to find a small scale map to better determine the actual location, but the best I could find is a 1:100,000. Not small enough to be exact.

Thank you for the recommendation (i.e. the squadrons). I will give that a try.

Again thanks!

Pista! Jeff

 

Jeff, I love that you're looking into this. The operation is really interesting.

 

This isn't what you are looking for, but it's from the same period, from the WD 7 R.T.R. for COMPASS. This should be Bardia I guess.



All the best

Andreas