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Thread Author: Crankcase	Replies: 12

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New Mon 25 Jun 12 08:30

Britain from above - Crankcase

New website launched today that might be of interest to some. Called Britain From Above, it's a collection of aerial photos, published for the first time, ranging in date from 1919 to 2006.

www.britainfromabove.org.uk

Just been looking at some photos of central Cambridge from 1920, and not only hasn't it changed, one of the dons on his bicycle is still there.

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New Mon 25 Jun 12 08:53

Britain from above - Zero

Wow, didn't realise that Wimbledon lawn Tennis club had been moved. The opening pic has it right next to the railway in 1921 - Its there no longer.

I wonder how many people have seen the google earth feature where you can slide the date back for the images?

On There is a good 1945 aerial of my current abode, half my road is not finished. Not everyone gets shots that old, I think the one of my area was taken by the RAF PRU because of the vickers works at Brooklands. The RAF used to use aerial reconnaissance of the UK, so they could see what the germans might see. And disguise stuff.

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New Mon 25 Jun 12 09:35

Britain from above - TeeCee

>> used to use aerial reconnaissance of the UK, so they could see what the germans
>> might see. And disguise stuff.
>>

It helped here that they had Jasper Maskelyne working for them. He knew better than anyone (probably before or since) what to show people to make 'em convinced they'd seen something else.

I still reckon his masterpiece in this area was making the Suez canal disappear on moonlit nights[1], to scotch any ideas of knocking it out that the Germans might have been entertaining.

[1] All done with lateral thinking. Disguising the canal is impossible. Disguising the square miles of surrounding desert to look like moonlight reflecting off water, so the real thing cannot be picked out, is merely difficult.

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New Mon 25 Jun 12 09:49

Britain from above - Zero

>> I still reckon his masterpiece in this area was making the Suez canal disappear on
>> moonlit nights[1], to scotch any ideas of knocking it out that the Germans might have
>> been entertaining.
>>
>> [1] All done with lateral thinking. Disguising the canal is impossible. Disguising the square miles
>> of surrounding desert to look like moonlight reflecting off water, so the real thing cannot
>> be picked out, is merely difficult.

His false Harwich docks was good too.

Last edited by: Zero on Mon 25 Jun 12 at 09:49

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New Mon 25 Jun 12 11:49

Britain from above - Mapmaker

Assuming any of it is true.

www.maskelynemagic.com/Resources/THE%20WAR%20MAGICIAN%20MYTH.pdf

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New Mon 25 Jun 12 11:09

Britain from above - crocks

>> Wow, didn't realise that Wimbledon lawn Tennis club had been moved. The opening pic has
>> it right next to the railway in 1921 - Its there no longer.

Yes. the Tennis Club was originally in Worple Road. The site is now the playing fields for Wimbledon High School for Girls and there is a footpath between the railway and the playing fields.

A very good vantage point for teenage boys in the 1970s. :-)

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New Mon 25 Jun 12 09:41

Britain from above - CGNorwich

Site seems to have crashed!

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New Mon 25 Jun 12 09:42

Britain from above - Iffy

...Site seems to have crashed!...

Better that than the aeroplane which took the pics.

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New Mon 25 Jun 12 10:10

Britain from above - Crankcase

That'll be the Streisand effect of the BBC reporting on it. It'll be better tomorrow no doubt.

Edit: Slashdot effect, I mean, not Streisand in this case.

Last edited by: Crankcase on Mon 25 Jun 12 at 10:11

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