Royal Aero Club photograph archive

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Member for

16 years 2 months

Posts: 823

I don’t think that it has been noted before on this forum but the Royal Aero Club has posted a large number of pre-1914 photographs on Picasa here...

http://picasaweb.google.com/RoyalAeroClubGB

This is just a small fraction of their total archive of photographs which are currently in the process of being scanned and catalogued by a small group of volunteers, who I have just joined. One of the more difficult tasks is identifying people, aircraft, locations and date for the many photographs that lack captions. You will see that several of the albums are named as unidentified and we would welcome any input you may have. There is a facility to add comments in Picasa itself or feel free to use this forum or PM to me (if you do please quote the file name of the photo).

Thanks in advance

Original post

Member for

17 years 7 months

Posts: 1,861

Wow! Thanks for this hint! Like the section 'Night Flying at Hendon'.

Member for

16 years 3 months

Posts: 1,813

Great to see that this archive is going to get an airing. Certainly looking forward to seeing what is there from the 1930s..........

Planemike

Member for

16 years 2 months

Posts: 823

Mike,

A little disappointing through the 20s and 30s I'm afraid. There are a few boxes yet to be reviewed but I'm not too hopeful. The whole archive is a bit odd to be frank, large areas of club activity devoid of material yet batches of more general aviation photos. There does not appear to have been any system regarding what they kept and what got dumped and its all jumbled. But on the plus side there is plenty of good stuff, especially the early years.

Member for

13 years 3 months

Posts: 591

Is there anything in the 1914-1919 era?

Richard

Member for

16 years 2 months

Posts: 823

A little, but limited for obvious reasons

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 3,183

Some smashing stuff there, and a friend has been able to identify some of his postcard collection using these as well - so good stuff all round. Thank you for posting them!

If you happen to spot the Goodden Dragonfly, I'd love to see even a half-decent image of it...

Adrian

Member for

15 years 7 months

Posts: 1,707

Bump....Hi Schneiderman...Has the RAeS photo archive disappeared from the internet now? Picasaweb is no more it seems.

Member for

15 years 7 months

Posts: 1,707

Thanks Schneiderman... From your link (unless I'm missing something) the RAeC photo collection is scanned and digitised but not indexed and only available to view on a computer in the RAF Museum at Hendon according to this message
' The Royal Aero Club Collection includes more than 10,000 photographs and postcards, ...Many, but not all, of the photographs are captioned. Unfortunately, the photographs are in no particular order in the Collection and they have not been indexed or catalogued. However, they have all been scanned and digitised, and these computer images can be browsed by prior appointment in the Reading Room run by the Archive and Library of the Royal Air Force Museum, Grahame Park Way, Hendon, London NW9 5LL. ' .
So not online anymore?

Member for

16 years 2 months

Posts: 823

Only a small fraction of the photographs, all pre-WW1, were placed on Picassa and are now on Google Photos.
The task of identifying and cataloguing the bulk of the collection is continuing, a laborious process. In time (unknown date) some form of catalogue will be placed on the website. Viewing the originals, and other items in the RAeC Trust collection, is only possible by visiting the archive at the RAF Museum at Hendon but we will undertake a search for specific items if requested via the website and can provide low-res scans for review. Hi-res scans are then available for a small fee.

Member for

15 years 7 months

Posts: 1,707

So far I've found a few albums in the 'Showcase' http://raec.daisy.websds.net/DisplayShowCaseDocs.aspx (e.g.The Gustav Hamel Pdf , the Bristol Monoplane/Vickers Bullet album HTMLand the 1000mile trial (Cars) HTML/Pdf and (perhaps no surprise? :-) ) the 1931 Schneider Trophy programme HTML )

Member for

15 years 7 months

Posts: 1,707

It's all a little puzzling...the only other content I can find in 'Albums' are the 20 Albums of Frank Hedges Butler but only the full indexes can be seen not the photos! http://raec.daisy.websds.net/hbalbum2.htm All 'work in progress', perhaps

Member for

16 years 2 months

Posts: 823

Yes, these are substantial albums and cannot be scanned, hence the indexes only at this stage. We have managed to photograph pages from some other albums with reasonable success so these could be added to our long 'to do' list.