Spies in the sky

Spies in the Sky tells the extraordinary story of the partner organisation to Bletchley Park, the photo intelligence centre known as RAF Medmenham. It is a story in two halves - of the daring photo-reconnaissance pilots who flew for hours at a time in unarmed aircraft to take aerial photographs over Occupied Europe; and of the ingenious photo interpreters who invented a completely new science to analyse these images in extraordinary detail. Brilliantly inventive, they pioneered 3-d photography enabling aerial photographs to provide vital Intelligence throughout the war from finding the Bismarck to tracking down Hitler’s V weapons. It has been said that 80% of all Intelligence gathered in World War Two came from aerial photographs. The story is told around the remarkable group of boffins and academics at Medmenham, some of the best brains in the country. The book is fully illustrated with aerial photos and images of the people and the story of RAF Medmenham. It will appeal to anyone interested in the history of the Second World War and provides a narrative to rival the tales from the famous code breaking centre at Bletchley Park.

‘Spies in the Sky fills a huge gap in Second World War historiography in both an exciting and intellectually stimulating way.’ Andrew Roberts