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For the fly-boys out there

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bugimike

bugimike

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I just scanned this old pic. onto a CD for a friend. The original was over 3' long and 8" high so the only way I could reproduce it in entirety wasto video it, and so long as I was doing that I thought I would add a little period sound, This was the result....
ps: the inscription reads "Gunnery School Detachment, Dorr Field, Arcadia, Fl. Lieut. Aubrey H. Tabor Armament Officer Commanding"
Did a little research and found Dorr Field at "Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields: Florida, Ft. Myers Area

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB2l0dkpnos
 
Apparently that was a common way to take team & group picturs back then. I've got a picture of my Grandfathers college football team that's about 2" long & 6" high. From the late 19-teens.

Its been rolled up for about 60 to 70 years now. So I was thinking about taking it and some of the other old photos to a photo doctor to see if I can't have them repaired or copied.
 
I know what you mean!! The airfield in the picture above was de-commissioned in 1917 (until re-activation in WW II) so that makes the picture 90+ years old. It had been saved rolled up like a scroll, so it was very brittle which is why my friend asked me to scan it for him to preserve some kind of record. His grandfather is a sargeant kneeling in the center of the picture (by the machine gun) and he wanted to have some kind of record besides the old photo!!
 
The summer camp I grew up at did a photo like that at the end of every summer for all the staff. This guy showed up with an ancient camera on a motorized base of some sort, so it would pan and capture the entire staff. Sometimes folks would be "runners" so they could show up in the photo more than once.

Very cool old photo, Mike.
 
Did our squadron about 1964 with one of those.
 
drooartz said:
The summer camp I grew up at did a photo like that at the end of every summer for all the staff. This guy showed up with an ancient camera on a motorized base of some sort, so it would pan and capture the entire staff. Sometimes folks would be "runners" so they could show up in the photo more than once.

Very cool old photo, Mike.
Click to expand...

I agree...cool photo! I have a similar one of my Uncle's WWII plattoon taken at a base in London. It is about 10" x 36". He was killed in action during the Battle of the Bulge; I'm named after him...

As for the panoramic cameras, they are still around. We used one at both MG '96 and MG2001. Twist also has a vendor come in for the UML Summer party that has one. It is definitely a vintage camera...but does a great job!
 
Does make me wonder how long these old cameras (and their old operators!) will keep running. Not much out there to replace them.
 
drooartz said:
Does make me wonder how long these old cameras (and their old operators!) will keep running. Not much out there to replace them.
Click to expand...

How would you like to attempt to source parts for one of those puppies? (The camera, not the photographer?!)

The photographer who owns the above mentioned camera is only in his 40's, I believe!
 
As it's Memorial Day weekend this is probably a fitting topic to have started too! Awesome to have images like that, especially from Dorr.

The cameras are/were called "circuit" cameras. They have a curved film plane, and rotate on a timed mechanical system. There were several people using them up through the mid-90s, but now you can duplicate that with a decent digital camera, a tripod, and some software. The "new age" version is used a lot for real estate and webpages.

I took a special interest in Dorr and Carlstrom fields several years ago. Most of the small airports, and some major ones in Florida were originally WW2 airfields - but there's not a lot of mention about the WW1 bases. Somehow I stumbled on a lot of pictures of Carlstrom, and a few of Dorr. Not much is left of Dorr, except a prison...but the original 1917 base is still visible there at Carlstrom. I shot some low-altitude, high-res images of the area and started comparing what's left with the old pictures I found. It's neat to see, and interesting to see what went on there 85-90 years before. Arcadia had a lot going on, as did some of the major cities - but otherwise the landscape was pretty desolate. WW2 was a little better, and the bases were vast improvements over the WW1 facilities. Carlstrom even had tennis courts and a swimming pool (there are very good pictures in a book called "RAF Wings Over Florida".

My picture album of the field is here.

The WW2 base in 2002
p144838961-3.jpg


The WW1 base in 1917
p329168060-2.jpg


The WW1 base in 2002
p61389662-2.jpg
 
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