1938 Aerial Photos

[Ric Gillespie]

The Keeper of Photographs at the Royal New Zealand Air Force Museum in Christchurch, NZ has made a potentially important discovery. 
Last month, at Jeff Glickman's request  I ordered a hi-res scan of the "dash dot" photo taken by the New Zealand Survey, looking north along the reef from a hole in the side of Norwich City. Jeff wanted to be sure the photo didn't happen to catch Nessie or other airplane wreckage.  We received a 1200 dpi scan of the original print.  Nothing of interest is visible.  Another dead end.

But a few weeks letter I received this:
"Today, when I was looking for some aerial photos of Auckland, I again came across a tin that is described as simply "Unknown island". ... Inside the tin is a slip of paper which states "Gardner island". I have looked at the associated contact prints and compared them to Google Earth and I believe this description is correct. I don't have a date but it will be early WW2 at the latest."

He has since sent me lo-res scans of the contact sheets in the tin.  There are 30 frames in all. I know exactly what they are.  He has found the complete set of aerial obliques taken on December 1, 1938 by a Supermarine Walrus launched from HMS Leander in support of the New Zealand Survey. We've had two of the frames for a long time (see attached) via the New Zealand National Archives but it always seems like there should be more.  There are.  Lots more. Some of them provide additional views of the Seven Site and the third image attached below is one that we'd especially like to get a really close look at.  The pay-off is that he also has the original 5 inch negative for each frame.  This could be a gold mine. 

Jeff and I need to go to Christchurch and make best-possible-resolution copies of the negatives just as we did with the Bevington Photo at Oxford last year.  All we need to do is figure out where the heck the money is going to come from.  There are (ahem) other demands on TIGHAR's resources at the moment.

[Mark Appel]

Congratulations! This is exciting as heck and couldn't come (ahem) at a better time! You deserve a little good news...

[Ted G Campbell]

Ric,
Give us cost estimate!
Ted Campbell

[Ric Gillespie]

Ric,
Give us cost estimate!

Two adult fares on Air New Zealand roundtrip LAX to Christchurch in early July - call it $3,000. We should only need one day there. Hotel, rental car and meals - another $500.

[Ted G Campbell]

Ric,
Ask Pat how I can send the $3500.  It's in the mail.

Ted Campbell

[Ric Gillespie]

Ric,
Ask Pat how I can send the $3500.  It's in the mail.

Ted Campbell

WOW!  Gosh, uh,
• you can use the "donate" feature in the TIGHAR store
• you can phone us with your credit card information 302-994-4410
• you can send a check to
TIGHAR
2812 Fawkes Drive
Wilmington, DE 19808
• or I can jump in the car and come get it.

How about it Forum??  Give it up for Ted Campbell!!

[THWWallace]

Ric,
Ask Pat how I can send the $3500.  It's in the mail.

Ted Campbell

THANK YOU, MR. CAMPBELL!

[Mark Appel]

Mr. Campbell.

You are a good man. And a rockstar!

Many thanks to you from the SF Bay Area,

Mark Appel

[Gloria Walker Burger]

Ted Campbell, you are doing what I wish I could do.

Many thanks from West Chester PA!!!

[Andrew M McKenna]

Ric

Very Exciting!

Seems to me that you might be able to pay for someone in NZ to take the photos you'd like to have, and save yourself a whole lot of time and travel, probably for less than what's been offered up by Ted (thanks Ted!!). 

I know the temptation is to get out there and do it yourself, but I suspect that Jeff can dictate what needs to be done to someone who has the right equipment and the talent.  The photos and NZ aren't going anywhere, so if the result isn't up to snuff, we can try with someone else, or send you and Jeff to finish the job.

With what is on your plate, you might consider the options.

Just a thought

Andrew

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Ric,
Ask Pat how I can send the $3500.  It's in the mail.

Ted Campbell

Many thanks Ted. It's easy to get distracted with what's going on in another particular thread but, there is still much work to do, leads to follow and, clues to investigate. Your contribution to the project will be remembered.

[Peter F Kearney]

Many thanks Ted Campbell, its a great service you are performing.

[Chris Johnson]

What's to stop the tin and its contents being FedExed over to TIGHAR Central and then back?

[Laura Gridley]

Wow exciting news!  And thank you to Ted Campbell for the extremely generous donation offer! 

[Dale O. Beethe]

What's to stop the tin and its contents being FedExed over to TIGHAR Central and then back?

I'd say the possibility of eighty year old negatives being damaged would be the primary reason.  Nothing against FedEx, but any shipping company can damage shipments, especially when they come from overseas.