A war book with a difference... an important addition to the history of those times... here is a book to read and enjoy.
The Sunday Times Constance Babington Smith, who worked during the war with the Allied Central Interpretation Unit, tells the story of the men and women who pioneered and fostered photographic intelligence, and of the work they did.
Now this is unusual - a book of military history, written by a woman who was right at the heart of one of the most exciting events during the Second World War. In fact, you might even say she precipitated it.
Constance Babington Smith (Babs) was a photo interpreter herself, and here she writes compellingly about the toil and the excitement of detecting enemy actions from the study of aerial reconnaissance photographs. It was Babs herself who made several significant discoveries, including spotting the first jet-propelled rocket in history.
The book isn't a dry recounting of historical facts, but a well-told tale of how it really happened. And it includes some stellar black-and-white photographs to help the reader understand how photo reconnaissance works.
Babington Smith wrote this book in 1957, just twelve years after the war ended, and it was reprinted in 1974.
An amazing book. It was so insightful and interesting I didn't want to put it down. Lots of interesting stories for those interested in the development of technology.
The memoir of British Flight Officer Constance Babington Smith, a pioneer in the craft of aircraft and photographic interpretation who greatly expanded the usefulness of analytic interpretation. Originally published as Air Spy: The Story of Photo Intelligence in World War II.