Seeking air photo of Po River crossing using pontoons or DUKWs

Alice, results from google are a lot of unuseful items, only generic aerials: not shots five thousand feet above Po river, 23-29 april 1945 at noon, when GI wade in.

Google is unable to retrieve specific items.

Anyway, thanks for your suggestion, we need someone who know air-reconnaissance USAAF archives.

So long.

Thanks for your answer Alice, let me show this search:

the National Archives index of aerial photographs, using thousands of map overlays,  contains some aerials for 23 april 1945 soaring above Quingentole area, four miles west of Revere on the Po river southern shores.

Next, by 24 and 25 april 1945 the USA UK ANZAC engineers launched six pontoon bridges from here downstream, that is from San Benedetto (Mantua) to Pontelagoscuro (Ferrara) spanning 30 miles, so reaching the northern shoreline with six beacheads.

But no aerial photographs are in the overlays maps between 23 and 30 april 1945 (locating these bridges) or even in the month of may because the six bridges remained in civil use,

and so the photographs could be archived or stored otherwise.

Where?

Dear Miss Naylor,

many thanks for your wide search suggestions and detailed routes to reach the correct shelves into many American Archives. Being on the other side of Atlantic, let me try all these paths toward an interesting period of the War in Europe. Next I will report on progress of my findings.

Gratefully of your splendid and complete work.

Many many thanks, again.

(Mario)

Hello Mr. Elliot,

have not tried, but these links now will be searched usefully.

Many many thanks for your suggestions.

(Mario)

Many thanks miss Alice for your wise suggestion, so I'm extending my searches there.

(Mario)

Hello, miss Alice,

the Date of this reportage is correct as 1944 and the river is not the Po river, but one of many that flows down the Po valley and merges all waters into Po river. Anyway an intersting reportage.

The page of Army History contains some good pictures of bridges and pontoons across Po river, and thats is my problem: these photographs are from National Archives, but are dispersed in many boxes with proper documents ...so you could not reach these photos if you do not know the TITLE of the documents associated with the photo.

You must open all these boxes, one by one, to recover one or two photographs.

No problem in fact ...simply open these boxes one by one.

Many thanks, by Mario.

By now only two aerial photos of Po river have seen, showing the april 1945 crossing:

n.1 - an aerial photo of a completed pontoon, taken from 1500 feet high, above the river near Bonizzo, looking southeast, not a perfect reproduction into an history of that US Army divisions who reached these shores on 24 and 25 april 1945 saved in PDF on my computer years ago (the Title i could recover next) so being an official photo i presume, even if the caption do not refer to Bonizzo shores (eastward of Revere and Ostiglia area) the site is sure Bonizzo anyway.

n.2 - an aerial photo of a ford on the Po river, taken from 3000 feet high, where boats and DUKW and LVT have their beacheads on both the south and north shores, where wide earthworks are completed, not a perfect reproduction into Engineer History Fifth Army Mediterranean Theater (Volume Two) page 231 with "THE PO" caption, but i never was able to discover where are that shores, or maybe located on a British eastern sector of Po river?

Now i'm searching all the boxes listed in National Archives, commencing on folders suggested by miss Sylvia Naylor here above.

Many thanks Alice, by Mario Venturini.

Hellò miss Alice, many many thanks for your suggestion,

this researcher has done a lot of work, but ...unfortunately, into his list of air squadrons do not appear those two army air force squadrons that in 1945 could being here above my Po River pontoons taking photographs,

(A) 3rd Photo Group

(B) 12th Photo reconnaissance Squadron,

but no problem, Alice, anyway please look the map here under: the area of Po River interest is in blue.

So long.