While the Cartographic Branch holds the majority of aerial photography held at the National Archives, the Still Pictures Branch also holds a large amount of aerial photography. The Still Picture holdings are particularly strong on Air Force bombing and World War II photography.
Some highlights of Still Picture’s holdings include:
Photographs of Aerial Views taken by the Air Force Command, 1943 - 1945 (18-AO)
This series consists of aerial photographs taken along the routes flown over the United States, the Caribbean, South America, islands in the Atlantic, Africa, the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, Asia, the South Pacific, Alaska and Canada. Also shown are ATO airports, emergency landing fields, mountains, glaciers, lakes, rivers, cities and towns, farming areas, and other terrain features. This series is partially digitized.
Photograph of Mount Diablo, California - Twenty miles east of Berkeley, 18-AO-219R-12
Photographs of American Military Activities, ca. 1918 - ca. 1981 (111-SC)
This series consists of photographs documenting American activity, the bulk of which is military, from the French and Indian War through the Vietnam War. Other military engagements depicted include the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, the China Relief Expedition, the Mexican Punitive Expedition, World Wars I and II, and the Korean War. There are also scenes from wars in which the United States did not directly participate such as the Napoleonic Wars, the Russo-Japanese War, and the Chinese-Japanese War of 1932. The photographs of early American activity are reproductions of paintings, sketches, and artifacts. This series is an aggregate of four accessions. Researchers should be aware that there is some overlapping of items in the first two accessions, and the items received in later accessions often fill in gaps. This series covers such a vast array of subjects that they cannot all be listed here in any great detail. Some of the general categories are individuals in U.S. history, events, wars, officers and enlisted personnel, military installations, military ceremonies, armaments, vehicles, general military activity (including administration, recruitment, training, and demobilization), medical facilities and care, communication systems, prisoners of war, foreign armies and equipment, and combat artwork. The finding aid for the series is available in the Still Pictures Research Room. This series is partially digitized.
Aerial view of vehicles passing through Stuttgart, Germany. 111-SC-341259
Photographic Reference File, ca. 1940 - ca. 1958 (127-GR)
This series consists of photographs relating to U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) activities, including those specific to World War II and Korea as well as more general subjects. The general subject section consists of images of USMC aircraft, the Marine Corps Band, artillery, atomic bomb testing in Nevada in 1952, communication equipment, commandants, the Cunningham Collection (early aviation photographs), insignia, medical evacuation (medevac), Marines on liberty, Medal of Honor recipients, enlistment posters, the surrender of Japan, and Japanese and Allied prisoners of war (POWs). The World War II subjects include the Battles of Bataan, Bougainville, Cape Gloucester, Central Solomons, Corregidor, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Japan, Marshall Islands, Midway, New Britain, Okinawa, Philippines, Saipan, Tarawa, Tinian, and Wake Islands. There are also photographs of Navajo Indians and wounded soldiers. The Korea section consists of photographs of various USMC campaigns in Korea, as well as views of aircraft, artillery, bunkers, cemeteries, close air supply and support, communications, engineering activities, captured weapons and equipment. In addition, there are views of Marines in combat, medical and surgical hospitals, Korean civilians, USMC personalities in Korea, North Korean and Communist Chinese POWs, operations in the Punch Bowl Area, Marines at recreation, religious services conducted in the field, Marines from the Republic of Korea, and other United Nations soldiers in Korea. The finding aid for the series is available in the Still Pictures Research Room. This series is fully digitized.
General – Atom Bomb Testing, 1952. 127-GR-25-A325141
Photographs of the Apollo Space Program, 11/9/1967 - 12/19/1972 (255-AMP)
This series consists of digital surrogates and corresponding metadata created from still film taken during Project Apollo missions, starting with Apollo 4, and going through Apollo 17. The finding aid for the series is available in the Still Pictures Research Room. This series is fully digitized.
AS07-07-1804 - Apollo 7 - Apollo 7 Mission, Brazil. 255-AMP-AS07-07-1804
Photographic File of the Paris Bureau of the New York Times, ca. 1900 - ca. 1950 (306-NT)
These photographs comprised the N.Y. Times photo morgue for the Paris Bureau of the newspaper. A large range of subjects and personalities are covered, including U.S. and foreign statesman; scientists; entertainers; authors; military and religious leaders; foreign and domestic agricultural, industrial, educational and recreational subjects; sports events and activities; people, cities, buildings, festivities, industries and institutions relevant to specific geographic locations; World War I; World War II, including the liberation of Europe; and post-World War II incidents. The glass negatives were reproduced on microfilm by the National Archives so that the images could be accessed by using the index in the research room (see 306-NTX). The finding aid for the series is available in the Still Pictures Research Room. This series is partially digitized.
Aerial Photograph of Augusta National Golf Club. 306-NT-804-P-5
Photographs in the series Black and White and Color Photographs of U.S. Air Force and Predecessor Agencies Activities, Facilities and Personnel - World War II and Korean War, ca. 1940 - ca. 1980 (also known as 342-FH) include a number of aerial photographs, many depicting bombings during World War II. This series includes both regular still photographs and aerial photographs. The finding aid for the series is available in the Still Picture Research Room. 49,159 of the images in the series are digitized and can be found here. Aerial photographs in the series, consisting of roughly 1,700+ digitized photographs, can be found here. The finding aid is the series Subject Index to Black and White and Color Negatives, Slides, and Transparencies of U.S. Air Force Activities, Facilities, and Personnel, ca. 1942 - 1980 (342-X).
Aerial View of Florence, Italy. 81359AC
General Black-and-White Photographic File of the Department of Navy, 1958 - 1981 (428-N)
Record Group 428, Series N consists of approximately 238,000 black-and-white negatives, with original negatives, Navy-generated copy negatives, and scattered National Archives-generated copy negatives interfiled. Formats vary considerably (see below), though by the mid-1970's, the most common entries consist of 35 mm. negatives placed in slide mounts. For the majority of the series negatives, numbering continues forward from the #1,030,000 range where the previously accessioned black and white negatives end. (The largely pre-World War II-to-August 1945 and August1945-to-1957 blocs had been sent to the National Archives in 1961 and 1968; see the description for Record Group 80, Series G.) There is an exception to this pattern in Record Group 428, Series N, where there is a group of approximately 50,000 negatives that bear much lower numbers (chiefly #800,100 through #850,027), utilizing a numbering sector left vacant by the NPC in earlier years. Approximately 21,000 of these items are 1960s-70s official portrait views that arrived at NARA in 1990 with the higher-number items. Many of the remainder are images pertaining to the Navy's annual exercise of "Operation Deepfreeze" in Antarctica, including numerous views from 1955 through the early 1960s. These were transferred to the National Archives well before 1990. They were originally considered part of Record Group 80, Series G. Record Group 428, Series GX and GXA and are both unified vis-aid indexes covering Series N black-and-white negatives. They also include Series K and KN color negatives, slides, and transparencies. This series is partially digitized.
USS John Marshall (SSBN-611). 428-N-1060477
You can view information on all of the aerial photography in the Still Picture Branch, listed by record group and series, here. Information on NARA’s aerial photography holdings can be found here.