Baseball and britain: Aerial reconnaissance of the USAAF

Between 1943 and 1944, reconnaissance units from the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) trained for combat deployment over the skies of England.

They flew over airfields, radar installations, and ancient monuments, as well as major settlements, in order to learn the English radio procedures and flying regulations – and, more importantly, to gain experience ahead of later missions over enemy territory.

Now a collection of images taken by these units has been released to the public for the first time. More than 3,600 black-and-white photographs have been made available by Historic England via a searchable map on their website.