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 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 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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A member of NCAP staff in a blue lab coat and wearing a patterned face mask examines a black and white photographic print within a fume hood.

How the Directorate of Overseas Surveys Collection Came to NCAP

This second article in our series for the exhibition ‘Reinterpreting the Directorate of Overseas Surveys’ looks at what happened to the DOS collection after operations ceased, and how the collection...

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