Aerial views of a very different Britain | Simon Jenkins

These black and white photos of the UK from the 1920s on are recognisable but show how much the country has changed

We love to look down from above. It gives us, literally, a superior view of the world, a day in the life of Jupiter. Aerial photography was used as a battlefield aid in the great war, and afterwards two pilots decided to carry the practice over into peacetime, to record Britain from the air. That record is now available online, and makes sobering viewing.

Was Britain really so sma...