THE WORK of a pioneering aerial photographer is being celebrated in a new online project created by Historic England.

Aerial images taken by amateur lensman Harold Wingham, many of them from the Devon, are now featured in the Harold Wingham Collection.

The collection, comprising almost 2,000 photographic negatives and corresponding prints, has been made available online to the public for the first time, and features in three new digital galleries exploring key themes in Wingham’s work.

Flown between April 1951 and July 1963, the collection features a  mix of architectural, archaeological and industrial subjects, and views of villages and towns in the early post-war period, offering a unique insight into the changing landscape of the South West of England.

Wingham used hand-held aerial reconnaissance cameras, which although dating back to the 1940s, could produce images with excellent resolution, hence the quality of detail captured in his photography.

Born in 1924, Harold Anthony Wingham was an amateur aerial photographer, described by Geoff Hall, a former Librarian of the National Library of Air Photographs as ‘one of the unsung heroes’ of aerial photography.

Heralding  from the  New Forest he served in the Royal Air Force as a wireless operator and trainee navigator doing the Second World War. After the war, Harold compiled weather reports for the Ministry of Civil Aviation in Gloucester and later worked for the Gloster Aircraft Corporation.

He  took flying lessons and learned photography so that he could carry out aerial reconnaissance for archaeological purposes.

He acquired government surplus camera equipment and film and began recording the archaeology and architecture of the west of England, covering sites in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Wiltshire as well as Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire

Sadly, Harold’s commitment to taking photographs from the air came to an end in 1963 after he witnessed an air crash that killed his pilot, a close friend.

In 1957 he contacted the National Buildings Record (NBR), a predecessors of Historic England’s Archive, to offer them his aerial photographs.

The NBR were impressed with Wingham’s excellent photographs and commissioned 51 prints, establishing the basis of the collection.

In January 1970 the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME), another  predecessor of Historic England, requested more of his photographs to enhance its Air Photographs Library.

On learrning of Harold’s death in 2021 the Historic England Archive decided to commemorate his life and work and collaborated with some of Wingham’s friends and associates to create three online displays on Google Arts & Culture.

Said Gary Winter, Engagement and Content Officer for Historic England’s Archiveaid: ‘Our project to celebrate the Harold Wingham Collection brought our Archives team together with Harold’s friends to share knowledge and ideas and make a fascinating collection available online to the public.

‘Harold’s friends and colleagues proposed display themes, selected images to illustrate each theme and provided text for the captions. It has been a pleasure working with them to produce a fitting tribute to someone who was obviously well-liked and respected.’

The Harold Wingham Collection can be searched on Historic England’s website: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/photographs/harold-wingham-collection.