News & Articles

Find out about the latest news from NCAP and discover in-depth stories about NCAP collections, activities and projects.

A black and white vertical aerial photo of a busy port area. The land is crowded with buildings railways and roads. Vessels of various descriptions are on the water and tied up at the quaysides.

Reinterpreting the Directorate of Overseas Surveys Talk and Tour

Join us on Thursday 10 July for a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most intriguing collections cared for by the National Collection of Aerial Photography. Operations Manager, Rachel Nordstrom and Metadata Coordinator, Vivian Myron will lead a tour of the NCAP facility, followed by an in-depth in-person and online talk on the Directorate of Overseas Surveys collection, and how innovative projects are helping us share its 1.7 million images.

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Celebrating our Volunteers this Volunteers’ Week!

This Volunteers’ Week, we are highlighting the fantastic contribution our volunteers make to the National Collection of Aerial Photography’s mission to preserve and make accessible the 30 million aerial photographic images in our care.

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A black and white aerial photo of the city of Dunkirk, with the coast just visible in the distance. Thick clouds of black and white smoke are billowing up from the city, being driven by the wind from left to right.

Operation Dynamo - Evacuating Dunkirk

Images held by the National Collection of Aerial Photography show key locations in the Allied pocket around Dunkirk, between 26 May and 4 June 1940, from where 85 years ago...

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A person wearing a blue lab coat with the NCAP logo holds a black and white aerial photographic print in black-gloved hands.

Retiral of the NCAP Legacy Website

As part of our ongoing commitment to cybersecurity, we are retiring the legacy ncap.org.uk website on 24 June 2025. From that date our new platform – ncap.org – will be...

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A colour aerial photo of an airfield. 4 large planes painted with camouflage stripes are to the right, with 2 smaller planes painted grey to the left. A hangar is visible at the top of the frame and vehicles are dotted about.

Cold War Scotland

From 16-23 May 2025, The Cold War Network is bringing together historic sites across the UK for the first-ever Cold War National Heritage Week - a nationwide event dedicated to...

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A black and white oblique aerial photo of a wide sandy beach. Lines of wooden constructions designed to trap tanks cover the beach, and several figures are visible running and hiding from the approach of the reconnaissance aircraft.

VE Day and the Crucial Role of Photographic Reconnaissance and Intelligence

Intelligence gathered from the aerial reconnaissance imagery now cared for by the National Collection of Aerial Photography played a critical, though often overlooked, role in bringing about the Allied victories...

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