Shooting with an Anti-Aircraft Camera from 1940

This video takes a deep dive into the history and function of the Anti-Aircraft Verifying Camera, also known as the AA Close Range Attack Camera.

If you're interested in reading about other military cameras, I recommend "Cameras at War" by John Wade (https://www.johnwade.org/cameras-at-war).

00:00 Introduction
00:36 History
05:17 The Camera
09:16 Shooting

Sources for historical imagery:

[1] Department of Defense (Director). (1937). Aviation Training in the United States, 1917-1918 [Film]. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/24679

[2] United States Navy (Director). (1946). Target Kite Manipulation [Film]. • Target Kite Manipulation (1946)

[3] Australian War Memorial (Ed.). (1942). Anti-Aircraft Drill by the use of Camera. Australian War Memorial. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C9860

[4] Luan, D. (Ed.). (1918). Hythe Mk III Gun Camera during training activities at Ellington Field, Houston, Texas. Alamy. https://www.alamy.com

[5] Smith Archive (Ed.). (1917). The Camera "Lewis" Gun. Alamy. https://www.alamy.com

[6] Bøhn, L. (1932). Skudd med fotomitralijøse. Lokalhistoriewiki. Retrieved May, 2025, from https://lokalhistoriewiki.no/wiki/Fly...

[7] Imago History Collection (Ed.). (1918). Lewis Machine Gun. Alamy. https://www.alamy.com

[8] Clarke, R. W. (1994). British Aircraft Armament: Volume 2. Patrick Stephens Ltd. https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/3...

[9] Francillon, R. J. (Ed.). (1940). CA-1 Wirraways from No. 21 Squadron. Aviation of World War II. https://airpages.ru/eng/ot/raaf_05.shtml

[10] Department of Defense (Director). (1943). The Battle of Britain [Film]. https://archive.org/details/gov.archi...

[11] Sydney Morning Herald (Ed.). (1943). Ensign Advertisement. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/1593589...

[12] Piemags WW2 Archive (Ed.). (1941). Training of Naval Pilots for Naval Aircraft. Alamy. https://www.alamy.com

[13] No 1 Army Film & Photographic Unit. (1940). Royal Artillery 40mm Bofors guns. Wikimedia. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...

[14] New Zealand National Film Unit (Director). (1942). ACK ACK [Film]. • Ack Ack, Etc (1942)

[15] Universal Newsreel (Director). (1941). Universal Newsreel Vol. 14, Rel 43 [Film]. National Archives. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/23427...

[16] Department of Defense (Director). (1944). Direct Fire Anti-Aircraft Guns, Monschau, Germany [Film]. National Archives. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/16448

[17] Southern Railway Film Unit (Director). (1944). Home Guard Anti-Aircraft Drills and Aircraft Recognition [Film]. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/it...