Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum - Carrier planes not good enough for aerial reconnaissance?

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- - Carrier planes not good enough for aerial reconnaissance? (http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=59916)

Re: Carrier planes not good enough for aerial reconnaissance?

Gentlemen, thank you all for your input! Much appreciated.
Richard

Re: Carrier planes not good enough for aerial reconnaissance?

Quote:

Originally Posted by twocee (Post 305471)

As the War progressed carrier aircraft, particularly the photo F6Fs, were used to obtain preliminary coverage for planning future invasions. For example, in February 1944 two Task Groups struck the Marianas, partly with a view to obtaining up to date photographs of the defences. Similarly, at the beginning of March 1945 Okinawa and the other Ryukyus were hit and photographic coverage obtained. By that time each Carrier Air Group had a number of pilots specially trained in photo reconnaissance..

Speaking of this, the VF-18 War History mentions that in late September the squadron's photo pilots were tasked with obtaining as complete photographic coverage of Leyte as possible, and that "It is believed photographs they made were used by McArthur [sic] for the landing on Leyte."

Is it even possible to verify this? Is there documentation concerning which specific photographs were used by MacArthur et al. in determining the particulars of the landing?

Cheers.

Re: Carrier planes not good enough for aerial reconnaissance?

For example, I am not sure if any of you are more familiar with what specific kind of camera took the below image—if it is oblique, part of a trimetrogon series (there is another image with this one), etc.—or if you can tell based on the information in the lower right which aircraft may have taken the photo. It is marked CV11-31, so definitely an Intrepid plane. Just not sure how to determine between VB VT and VF photo shots. The recurring pattern in the upper right leads me to believe it is a fixed as opposed to handheld camera. Based on date, location and the low negative number, I believe this is from Strike 2A and taken by Redman "Beatle" Beatley.

https://imgur.com/a/64cIgNx