Luftwaffe aerial photograph.

E 4762

Description Luftwaffe aerial photograph.

Date c. 1939

Collection Records of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe), Second World War Aerial Reconnaissance

Catalogue Number E 4762

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Luftwaffe aerial photograph of Barr & Stroud works and Dawsholm Gasworks, Glasgow Dawsholm and Temple Gasworks, annotated as feature 'A', are described in some detail by the Luftwaffe intelligence notes. These highlight the buildings used for gas production (1), a pair of gasometers (2) and a plant for processing gas by-products (5). Situated immediately to the south-west of the gasworks is the Barr & Stroud optical instrument works (annotated as B). Other features identified in the intelligence notes include railway (3) and road (4) bridges situated within the area of the gasworks. Luftwaffe intelligence officers would have used these aerial photographs to identify new targets for bombing sorties and to assess how effective earlier raids had been. They also allowed intelligence to be gathered about the state of British defences and wartime industries. These photographs, complete with annotations and notes, were issued to German bomber crews along with maps to help them identify their targets more easily. Although Luftwaffe intelligence-gathering sorties continued throughout the war, most were flown in 1939 and 1940. These photographs were used to supplement the considerable dossier of intelligence accumulated in the late 1930s by the German national airline Lufthansa. While ostensibly surveying new routes, Lufthansa aircraft were actually being used by German intelligence to covertly photograph British industries and military installations. Taken during aerial reconnaissance in March 1941, this Luftwaffe intelligence photograph shows the Barr & Stroud works on Crow Road in Glasgow. Also shown are the Dawsholm gasworks. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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