Print

[Ric Gillespie]

The discovery of the Dec.1, 1938 New Zealand survey aerial photo negatives was a reminder that there may be important original source material out there that we don't know about.  For example, on April 30, 1939 - four months after the Walrus flew its aerial photo survey - a U.S. Navy Grumman J2F Duck arrived at Gardner aboard the seaplane tender USS Pelican to carry out a similar mission for the Bushnell survey.

The RNZAF photographer aboard the Walrus shot only oblique photos.  The photographer aboard the Duck shot at least one oblique and a series of overlapping vertical exposures which were later used to create an aerial mosaic of the island (see attached). We've had these two photos ( I believe they came from the National Archives) for many years but it would be great if we could find the individual photos- or even better, the negatives - that make up the mosaic.  Whether they still exist, and where they are if they do, is anybody's guess but it seems worth trying to find out.

[Albert Durrell]

National Archives have the following:
Aerial Photographs: Vertical and oblique views of the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office facilities, Suitland, MD; Florida gulf coast; San Clemente Island, CA; Aleutian Islands, AK; Guam, Kure, Wake, Gardner, Canton, Swains, Rose, Howland, Baker, Tutuila, and Enderbury Islands (Pacific Ocean); and Corondelet, Pearl, and Hermes Reefs (Pacific Ocean), 1923-50 (8,848 items). See Also 37.5.

Found under the General Records of the Hydrographic Office.
Perhaps someone who knows their way around the National Archives could locate.