Eyes for the Phoenix: Allied Aerial Photo-Reconnaissance Operations, South-East Asia 1941-1945

The story of aerial photo reconnaissance over Europe and the Mediterranean from bases in the United Kingdom is well known. But perhaps even more important in terms of strategy (and mostly unrecorded) was the job of the photographic squadrons in the Far East; to discover Japanese movements and intentions within a vast area, 2,000 miles across, within which virtually no other intelligence could otherwise be obtained. Flying through appalling weather conditions over some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world, against an implacable enemy, often in aircraft unsuited to the task and frequently unarmed, the crews were, until now, the forgotten eyes of the "Forgotten Army."