Image Collection Scottish Office Air Photographs Unit
A colour aerial photo of islands surrounded by a deep blue sea. There is one big island left of centre and a small one to the right. The islands have green grass and a mix of rocky and sandy shores. The sea is light blue over the sand.

The island of Oronsay, Argyll & Bute
Collection: Scottish Office, Sortie: ASS/51488, Frame: 0001 (10 October 1988)

Scottish Office Air Photographs Unit

The Scottish Office Air Photographs Unit (APU) Collection contains over 1.5 million aerial photographs of Scotland taken from the mid-1930s to the early 2000s. Central to the Collection are images taken in the 1940s as part of the National Air Photograph Survey. The Collection is further made up of numerous smaller collections brought together under the auspices of the Scottish Office Air Photographs Unit. The Collection forms a remarkable and comprehensive record of Scotland’s changing landscapes.

A colour aerial photo of Edinburgh, with the substantial roofs of Waverley Station in the middle. The green grass and trees of Calton Hill are right of centre. At the top is the grid of the New Town, with the more irregular Old Town at the bottom.
Edinburgh, with St Andrews House just right of centre, where the APU moved in the mid-1970s; Collection: Scottish Office, Sortie: FSL/7343/34, Frame: 1011 (21 May 1975)

History

At the end of the Second World War, the Royal Air Force (RAF) undertook Operation REVUE to provide the Ordnance Survey with aerial photography of the entire UK. This photography provided a basis for new mapping and informed post-war planning and reconstruction. Several photographic reconnaissance squadrons undertook this work throughout the late 1940s and around 500 sorties were flown over Scotland, resulting in over 280,000 aerial photographs.

Copies of these photographs were held by the Scottish Office in a specially created Air Photograph Library in Edinburgh. During the 1960s, the Library was renamed the Air Photographs Unit and was administered by the Scottish Development Department, part of the Scottish Office. It grew significantly with the transfer of Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Ordnance Survey (OS) imagery of Scotland dating from the Second World War onwards.

A colour aerial photo of Glasgow from a high altitude. Grids of streets are visible across the image, with extensive green spaces in the top right corner. A large river runs along the bottom edge, with smaller rivers running vertically to meet it.
Glasgow captured in a typical All Scotland Survey photo; Collection: Scottish Office, Sortie: ASS/51588, Frame: 0152 (10 June 1988)

The APU commissioned aerial surveys on behalf of the Scottish Development Department and advised the Scottish public-sector on the application of aerial imagery. It also maintained the Central Register of Aerial Photography of Scotland, a register of all known aerial imagery covering the country, mirroring similar services in England and Wales. As MoD and OS imagery was declassified, batches of roll film and copy prints were transferred to the APU at regular intervals.

Staff catalogued any accompanying finding aids and manually plotted the footprint of each sortie onto a series of one-inch-to-one-mile overview maps, to allow cover searches to be carried out. The APU also serviced a growing number of public enquiries and visitors who wished to view the collection in person.

A black and white aerial photo of Aberdeen, with the city occupying the left-hand two thirds. The dark sea occupies the right third, with a pale beach between it and the city. The city is densely packed with buildings, with a river at the bottom.
Aberdeen on the north-east coast of Scotland; Collection: Scottish Office, Sortie: ASS/63488, Frame: 0051 (11 September 1988)

Acquisition

Photographs taken during the National Air Photograph Survey were held from their creation by the Scottish Office Air Photograph Library (later APU), within the Department of Health for Scotland. In 1962 the material was transferred to the Scottish Development Department. Other material entered the collection as it was acquired or commissioned by the APU. The APU Collection was transferred to the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (now Historic Environment Scotland) in 1993.

A colour photo of a grassy headland protruding into a very dark blue sea. The headland is semi-circular and covered in brown grass. There are three small lochs on the headland, and a small complex of buildings right at the water’s edge.
Dunnet Head, the most northerly point of mainland Scotland; Collection: Scottish Office, Sortie: FSL/7343/38, Frame: 0521 (25 May 1975)

Scope

The Collection covers the whole of Scotland, mostly taken in an ad hoc fashion at various points from the mid-1930s to the early 2000s. However, particularly key are the two all-Scotland surveys undertaken in the late 1940s and late 1980s.

Geographical coverage
England Isle of Man
Northern Ireland Scotland

Collection contents

The Collection is made up of:

  • over 1.5 million images on a wide variety of film and print formats (nitrate negatives dating to 1945-1949 were copied onto acetate film and destroyed in the 1950s)
  • associated sortie plots and administrative records

Air Photo Finder

Some of this Collection has been digitised and is available to view on the Air Photo Finder.

Subscriptions

Finding aids are available for this Collection and can be examined with a subscription.

ArchivesSpace

The Collection is accessible via our Paid Image Search and Search Room services. Visit ArchivesSpace to learn about the Collection hierarchies.

Air Photo Finder  Subscriptions  ArchivesSpace - external 

IN THIS SECTION

A black and white aerial photo of about a dozen ships pulled up on a beach. The land beyond the beach has been divided up into a grid, and the scene is slightly obscured by clouds or smoke.

Allied Central Interpretation Unit

The ACIU Collection is home to 5.5 million photographic reconnaissance images taken during the Second World War, providing a visual record of occupied Western Europe.

A colour aerial photo of the Wimbledon area in London. Streets of houses are visible at the right and left edges. A golf course with bunkers and trees occupies the middle. To the left of centre are about 20 tennis courts and a tennis stadium.

British Aerial Survey Firms

NCAP has extensive holdings of photography taken by several important British aerial survey companies over a period of 50 years.

A black and white aerial photo of a city on the edge of the sea. There are buildings and an industrial area in the centre and fields to the right. The photo has been marked with purple pencil highlighting blocks of buildings.

Defence Geographic Centre

The DGC Collection contains aerial photographs of locations around the world, originally used to create maps for issue to British and Commonwealth forces.

A black and white aerial photo of a city. The streets are arranged in a grid. There is a coastline to the right with an area of dark sea at the right-hand edge. To the left are two meandering watercourses and an area of undeveloped wetland.

Directorate of Overseas Surveys

The DOS Collection provides a unique historical perspective, recording the changing landscapes of much of the Commonwealth throughout the 20th century.

A black and white aerial photo of coastal wetlands. The image has the appearance of abstract swirls and patterns in shades of black, white and grey. There seem to be a few trees in the centre and an area of water to the left.

Environment Agency

The EA Collection is a valuable record of the quickly changing coastal landscapes of the south-east of England, from Bournemouth round to Gravesend.

A black and white aerial photomap of a town surrounded by an irregular grid of black and white fields. The photomap is annotated with place names – including Stargard, the name of the town – and is overlaid with numbered map grid squares.

German Air Force

The GX Collection contains photos taken by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War, which were then used for intelligence purposes during the Cold War.

An oblique black and white aerial photo of a city with a coastline. The sea is at the bottom left corner. A small number of ships are on the water. The city is made up of what appears to be low-rise apartment blocks. There is a park in the centre.

Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre

The JARIC Collection holds millions of Cold War reconnaissance images and forms unique record of British interests and activities.

A black and white aerial photo of 17 planes at an airfield. The planes are all situated in bays off two tracks running vertically through the image – one light-coloured and one dark. The planes and tracks are surrounded by featureless fields.

Mediterranean Allied Photo Reconnaissance Wing

The MAPRW Collection contains c.150,000 aerial photographs taken during WWII by Allied units operating from North Africa and Italy.

A colour aerial photo with a park containing trees and red paths at the left, and Buckingham Palace in the bottom left corner. The River Thames is to the right with the London Eye lying flat over it. The shadow of Big Ben is to the right of centre.

Millennium Mapping

NCAP is home to the Getmapping and UK Perspectives Collections, two parallel projects to create a visual record of the UK at the turn of the millennium.

A black and white oblique aerial photo of an airborne plane from side-on. The plane has one propellor and a see-through cockpit with the pilot visible. There is a rear-facing gun turret, and the fuselage is marked with an American star and ‘312’.

National Archives and Records Administration

The NARA Collection contains worldwide imagery digitised as part of a partnership with the United States National Archives and Records Administration.

A colour aerial photo of the sea, very dark blue to the left and white from the glare of the sun on the right. In the middle a thin peninsula covered in brown grass extends into the sea. It has white cliffs and ends in a series of individual stacks.

Natural Environment Research Council

The NERC Collection contains over 27,300 aerial photographs taken around Europe for research purposes on behalf of the British Geological Survey.