During the First World War, thousands of aerial reconnaissance pictures were shot by the different fighting parties above the front lines and hinterland. Aerial photography was a new discipline at the beginning of the war, but quickly developed to one of the major forms of reconnaissance; from early 1915 onwards, images were collected on a massive scale.

These photographs partly survived in archives worldwide, and form the basis of historical and archaeological research at our department. The photographs now form an important source for the study of material remains of the Great War and for the management of this very special heritage.

• Centre of Historical & Archaeological Aerial Photography (CHAL)