Photo archivists and the researchers in the future will have a much easier time of it. The digital images that have replaced film are imbedded with information that can list everything from the shutter speed and aperture of the shot to the GPS coordinates and even the type of camera used.
Older photographs often present more of a challenge, but one that can be risen to. Take this image here. It was taken...well we are not quite sure. And it shows...again, an aircraft of a type not identified.
What we do know is that the photographer was John Vale, who worked in oil exploration from the 1950s to the 1960s. He has helpfully captioned it: “RAF taking off at Sharjah” which is at least a start.
We know that the British Royal Airforce maintained a base at Sharjah until the formation of the UAE in 1971. The old hangar is now an aviation museum. The roundels on the wings confirm this is an RAF plane and there is another clue in the combination of letters and numbers on the body that is unique to each aircraft. Unfortunately these are partly obscured, but we can make out the numbers 322 and either B or R and F or E.
Still, there are plenty of enthusiasts who maintain lists of aircraft on the Internet. A bit of searching unearths RE322. an Avro-Lincoln piston engine bomber and reconnaissance aircraft that was dispatched to the region in February 1956 as part of Flight 1426 after previously taking part in bombing sorties during the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya.
The Lincoln was the second generation of the famous British Lancaster bomber from the Second World War, but was soon superseded by jet fighters.
RE322 was one of four aircraft based at RAF Khormaksar in Aden, and which would have regularly visited Sharjah. The aircraft were withdrawn January 1957, with RE322 returning to Britain.
So this photograph shows an Avro Lincoln of 1426 Photographic Reconnaissance Flight preparing to take off at RAF Sharjah in 1956. Who needs digital?
* James Langton
