You might visit my other pages which are replete with aviation-related historical
information, such as railroads, Berliner
families (not just mine, but especially that about Emile Berliner and his son Henry
A. Berliner*), Chrysler and SS and
Jaguar, and the ordnance page, et seq..
We know, for an instance, that at least some of the 1930 Fairchild Aerial Survey, Inc.
(New York, New York) "Aerial Views of Washington" are on file at the Prints and
Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. In November of
1927, there was a crash of a small airplane at takeoff near Odessa, Texas; it was to
have surveyed the terrain between there and Crane and was a 12-cylinder
DeHavilland owned by Fairchild Aerial Survey, Inc., of Dallas. In 1931, FAS took
pictures of the Forth Point Channel Bridges in or around Boston harbor (Library of
Congress). And so it goes.
Here's a 1931 (maybe early 32) FAS aerial view of mid-Manhattan looking
East-Northeast, from a post card about to go up on eBay (ID #71953), a fabulous
example of a Fairchild Aerial Survey photo; I was asked to help date it:
(21 Feb 03)
Of course that's the Rockefeller Center site! There's St. Patrick's Cathedral
across Fifth, as plain as day!
A quick search and - Bingo! - "Construction of the Rockefeller Center — America's
largest privately owned business and amusement complex of the pre-war period —
began in 1931. - - - on a block that lies between New York's busy 5th and 6th
Avenues and 48th and 51st Streets - - - In total, ten different units were constructed
on the twelve-acre site, - - - . The great RKO motion picture theatre was the first
building completed (designed by the main architects {Raymond Hood} with Corbett,
Harrison) and MacMurray, Hood and Fouilhoux) and opened in 1932. It seats
over 3,500 patrons and has a full stage."
from Dennis Sharp, Twentieth Century Architecture: a Visual History,
p. 257.
So, no earlier than 1931 and not far into 1932, because there's no RKO Building yet.
The photo spans about 74th or 75th Street in the far upper left to 31st Street in the
near right and 9th/Columbus Avenue in the lower left to the East River in the upper
right. The Queensborough (59th Street) Bridge is in the upper center left and
you can easily spot the brand-new (gleaming white) Rockefeller Institute (right/south)
and New York Hospital - Cornell Medical College Center (left/north) between 63rd and
71st Street at the far upper left with Blackwell's/Welfare Island (today's Roosevelt
Island) beyond.
Almost all of fabulous old Pennsylvania Station shows in the lower right, with the
Hotel Pennsylvania across 7th Avenue and Broadway cutting diagonally a block
further east.
The primary source for Fairchild Aerial Survey photos since about 1965 has
been THE FAIRCHILD
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTION AT WHITTIER COLLEGE and "is one of
the largest libraries of aerial photographs in North America". "The Collection is
estimated to consist of at least 500,000 items - - - ". [How embarassing!
Whittier's Website predates this page and never turned up in my search!]
However, the Whittier photo collection is almost entirely composed of California
images. Whittier shares the collection with the
MAP & IMAGERY LABORATORY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT SANTA
BARBARA. Other repositories include UCLA and California
State University at Northridge.
(06 Jan 05)
On 12 Aug 2003, I heard from
UCLA Air Photo Archives, where they describe their holdings as: "The
Fairchild Aerial Surveys - A variety of oblique low altitude black and white aerial
photographs of Southern California between the years 1927 and 1964. - - - Limited
coverage of Arizona, Nevada and other states." However they also "have four
filing cabinet drawers of NY Fairchild obliques, and three filing cabinets of NYC obliques.
The cabinets are about 30 inches deep and contain photos". They "also have
even more negatives (w/o the photos) than developed photos stored elsewhere on
campus. Apparently most of the Cities from the Sky book's photos are from
their collection, so while they specialize in Southern California, they "also have a large
collection of Fairchild obliques for NYC/NY and even the rest of the US". They
have to charge for access and research there to pay operating costs {quite
reasonable - SB,III}, but they "do have a pretty nice collection".
Then, on 06 Jan 05, the Map and Imagery Laboratory of the Davidson Library
at UCSB further clarified who holds what as follows: "The oblique aerials by the
New York office of FAS are now held at the New Jersey State Archives.
The vertical aerials by the New York office are held by us. We share the
vertical aerials by the California office of FAS with Whittier College."
(06 Jan 05)
The primary motivation for this search is the need to document aspects of the Long Island Motor Parkway, one of the world's first
limited-access, reinforced concrete highways, both for the record and for myself, and
also for the Motor Parkway Panel, which I convened to
"keep the Long Island Motor Parkway alive in Situ and in Minds and Museums".
Sherman Fairchild developed an aerial camera during World War I, famed early on for
being used in Polar flights and such. He started using it over Washington, D.C.
ca. 1920, and eventually formed a company for this work and had crews fanning out
all over the U.S. Unfortunately, this vast collection was dissipated after the
Fairchild Aerial Survey Company closed its doors ca. 1970.
The Smithsonian Institution's
National Air & Space Museum houses the Sherman Fairchild Collection;
their Website tells about the 1920s Fairchild K-3, "a revolutionary new aerial camera".
It was driven electrically and had "a new shutter and magazine which advanced the
technology of aerial photography". "Fairchild later started an aerial survey and
map making company (one of many Fairchild companies to come)."
Fairchild Aerial Survey Book
There is a book about the survey photos, "Cities from the Sky: An Aerial
Portrait of America", by Thomas ("Tom") J. Campanella, October 2001
(14½" x 12½", 128pp, 125 duotone, hardcover), ISBN 1568982992.
The book is available from
MIT, where Tom Campanella is a lecturer in the Urban Studies Program. It
ain't cheap; the list price is $50.00 (Amazon.com offers it at $35.00).
It documents in incredible detail roads, rails, and marine terminals and is an
invaluable reference to same.
Gen. Billy Mitchell used the early Fairchild camera to document his pioneering attempts
to bomb battleships. Fairchild also started Fairchild Aerial Survey of Canada
in 1922, specializing in aerial timber surveys. Two years later (1924), he did a
photomosaic of Manhattan Island and all the surrounding boroughs of New York City,
another one of Sherman Fairchild's many firsts.
We know that FAS moved into Mexico, as well, since the late (ca. 1996) Captain Elrey
B. Jeppesen started out in 1928, managing Fairchild Aerial Survey Company's Mexican
mapping program (from Seattle's
Museum of Flight). They also prospected in Central and South America.
Sherman Fairchild was inducted into the
National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1979 and they have a nice
bio of him on their Website.
Obviously, the name continued in the field; witness the Fairchild All-Sky Camera
of the late 1970's, with a 100x100 pixel array Fairchild CCD from which it took its name;
it appears to be a product of Lockheed-Martin-Fairchild.
PLEASE! If you have any information about the location
of the FAS assets, especially those from Long Island, contact
me.
However, also PLEASE(!); do NOT ask me about the planes, the cameras, or
the successor firms; my interest is in the aerial photo collection (mostly those of the
NY metro area) and, to a much lesser extent, in the Long Island firm and its founder.
As you are obviously air-minded (take that as you choose), you must see the
Lion Air site!
I'd be Lion if I didn't warn you to keep your tongue in your cheek on this one!
Visit the author's Aviation Page, et seq.
THUMBS UP!
THUMBS UP! - Support your local police, fire, and emergency personnel!
S. Berliner, III
To contact S. Berliner, III, please click here.
© Copyright S. Berliner, III -
2002, 2003,
2005
- All rights reserved.
Return to Top of Page
times since the counter was installed.
