The Aerofilms Collection comes to RCAHMS

1 October 2008

Produced by Aerofilms, a private company who often sold their images to postcard manufacturers,  the collection will now become part of the RCAHMS archive, and many of the images have never been seen before by members of the public.

RCAHMS, in partnership with English Heritage and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, acquired the Aerofilms collection of historical aerial photography from Blom ASA. The full collection of over 800,000 images was the best and most significant body of oblique aerial photography of the UK remaining in private hands. Dating from 1919–2006, it presents an unparalleled picture of the changing face of Britain in the 20th century.  The prints, negatives and associated documentation have been transferred by region to the partnership organisations for comprehensive conservation, cataloguing and digitisation to allow them to be made accessible to the public.

The Aerofilms images include shots taken in 1935 of the construction of RMS Queen Mary – the biggest passenger liner of her day - in John Brown's shipyard, Clydebank, the Forth Road Bridge under construction in 1963, and, as shown here, Ibrox Park, the home of Glasgow Rangers Football Club, taken in 1927.

For more information on the Aerofilms collection, contact info@rcahms.gov.uk.