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This is a correction/amplification on what has been said about the World
War II-era aerial photography available from the National Archives and
Records Administration.
 
Our holdings on this subject consist of two major series:
 
1. Approximately 1.2 million prints (roughly 12" x 12" each) of aerial
photographs taken by the Germany military.  Coverages are widespread
--  Europe (from the British Islaes to the Ural Mountains), the Middle East,
and North Africa are included.  Many of the prints are annotated to
indicate military installations and defenses; others are marked to show
potential bombing targets.  The scale and quality of the photographs in
this collection vary considerably.   As described in a previous message,
the indexes to this material consist of clear acetate overlays, 1degree of
latitude by 1degree of longitude square, upon which are plotted flight
lines.  The overlays are registered to 1:250,000 maps of the
degree-square to which they relate to determine the geographic
coverage.
 
2.  Several million original aerial negatives of parts of the European,
Mediterranean, and Pacific Theatres of Operation which were taken by
units of the U.S. and Allied Air Forces.  Included are both vertical
mapping photography and oblique reconnaissance photography.  This
material is indexed in the same manner as the captured Germany
photography.   These photos are NOT part of the records of the Strategic
Bombing Survey.   The  latter consists of a handful of aerial photographs
mixed in with textual records and about 2,300 aerial prints of areas in
Japan and Korea.
 
Before we can begin a search for aerial photography, researchers will
need to submit a detailed map annotated to show your exact area of
interest.  Once we have received you map, we will search our holdings,
and provide ordering information for individual photographs (if the area is
small) or photograph indexes (if the area is large) if photography for your
area is available.
 
Maps and requests should be sent to the following:
 
Cartographic and Architectural Branch
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001
(301) 713-7040
(301) 713-7488 (fax)
 
Our intitial response will take between two and three weeks.  DO NOT
attempt to prepay for reproductions.  The National Archives and Records
Administration no longer makes reproductions of aerial photography.  We
will provide you with price lists and ordering information for several
authorized private vendors.
 
Dan Jansen
Cartographic and Architectural Branch