ISR Tour: Spitfire

DAYTON, OH, UNITED STATES

05.23.2013

Audio by NMUSAF PA 

National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

The Spitfire’s PR, or photo reconnaissance, variant proved to be extremely successful in the imagery collection role. The camera-equipped fighter aircraft accomplished several key reconnaissance missions. For the high-altitude, highspeed area coverage missions, the pilot of a high-flying fighter kept constant watch on the rear-view mirror to make sure that a contrail did not reveal his presence. Once over the target, the pilot maintained a precise course and altitude setting to collect a wide-area view of the situation on the ground. If photo-interpreters identified an important target, such as a V-1 launch site, another mission flew in low. Those missions presented more danger than the high-altitude missions. At high-speed and low-altitude, the pilot lined up a black cross on the side of the canopy with a small black stripe painted on the wing. He had to focus in the face of anti-aircraft fire, fighters and the ground. Sometimes other sources of intelligence validated the photo-interpreter’s analysis. After they assessed that there was a Focke-Wulf 190 plant working at Marienburg, Germany, technical intelligence verified it through the interpretation of data plates from crashed FW-190s and the Eighth Air Force destroyed the factory.

• Date Taken: 05.23.2013
• Date Posted: 07.30.2015 11:29
• Category: Recording
• Audio ID: 41593
• Filename: 1507/DOD_102629173.mp3
• Length: 00:01:43
• Album: ISR Tour
• Track #: 19
• Location: DAYTON, OH, US