Aeriel Photo's and maps help on howto read them

[sen10el]

Hello All

I could do with some help please

I have been given a huge pile of original Great War aeriel photo's and the maps to which they reference of the area of Passchendaele (about 60 photo's and 12 material maps) .

On the top of each photo are some writen reference numbers and then the date and time

How do i translate these to the maps

example: 5AB788 5|8 B.18c 2-7-17 :- 12-30

I assume the B.18c is the map and the last text is the date and time but i am lost with the rest

I can scan the photo's if anyone needs them, or the maps but they are large.

Could anyone please help me, I would so like to be able to match them up ready for my next trip out.

Thank you kindly

Andy Feeney

andy@adviceonit.co.uk

[Starlight]

Hi Andy,

As part of a book I have just written (but yet to find a publisher!) I had to create a map of the Ypres area overlaid with the map gridding system used by the artillery and RFC during the Great War. Without going into too much detail here (perhaps we could take it off line if you need more information), the Ypres area was covered by Sheet 28 (Belgium and Part of France), with this sheet divided into 24 equal squares (A thru X). Each of the lettered squares was further divided into 30 or 36 equal squares (depending upon the area in question) and these were in turn divided into four squares, a, b, c and d. From my map the village of Passchendaele - old spelling - would have a grid reference of roughly 28 D6d1040, ie sheet 28, square D, sub square 6, quarter square d, 1/10 of the way along the 'X' axis and 4/10 of the way up the 'Y' axis. With each lettered square being 6,000 yards in length, this yields the ability to be accurate to within plus or minus 5 yards.

The reference you quote B18c 27.17 would appear to indicate a position 1km south west of Boezinge and 11km to the west of Passchendaele. I cannot provide any information regarding the numbers you have given that precede this reference.

If you would like to attach a sample map or photo I will have a closer look at it.

Regards

Steve

[sen10el]

Thanks Steve

I have a link to two scans if you would like to look.

www.sen10el.co.uk/photos/

Any info would be greatly appreciated

I have a few more to go up as i have had some interest from people on the forum.

Thank you kindly

Andy

[CROONAERT]

example: 5AB788 5|8 B.18c 2-7-17

Andy.

The map referred to is actually 51B which is the 1:40,000 scale map sheet encompassing Arras ,Vimy, Bullecourt, etc etc.. The "B" you refer to is the largest partition square (as referred to by Steve above), subsquare 18 and "c" is the bottom right hand subsquare of this subsquare. 2-7-17 is the date of the photograph. (All 1:40,000 mapsheets had a B18c, by the way)

As mentioned on your other thread, the area referred to is in the vicinity of Oppy.

Dave.

[Starlight]

Hi Andy,

It all becomes a lot clearer having seen the two photos you posted!

Re the initial numbers/letters, without being certain it would be likely that these identify the squadron/aircraft that took/processed the photos followed by a sequence number (viz. 744 at 11:30 up to 788 an hour later). As for the areas covered, the first photo B18c is a low level shot roughly covering an area 500 yards square whereas the second photo C13bd C14ac was taken at a higher altitude, covering four times the area, roughly 1000 yards square (encompassing the right half of square 13 and the left half of 14).

A good site to visit to give you a better idea of how the gridding system worked and where sheet 51B is located is:

http://web.westernfrontassociation.com/the...adtrenchmap.htm

For the two example photos you have shown us, if you divide up the rectangle for sheet 51B into the letter squares and then the 30 smaller numbered squares you will then appreciate that the small square B18 is the square immediately to the left of C13. This may sound confusing but it won't be when you look at the site listed above.

Regards

Steve

[CROONAERT]

Andy.

The area of your photos is more than covered in this extract... (Paul posted square 18 and 13 seperately for you on your other thread you might notice)...

Dave