Capital Views: Interwar London in the Photographs of Aerofilms Ltd

Abstract

A new imagery of London emerged through the widespread circulation of aerial photographs that followed World War I. This article focuses on the work of the air-survey company Aerofilms Ltd, which established itself as the main provider of aerial imagery in interwar Britain. Specific photographs are examined in relation to the different cultural contexts and discourses in which they operated. The analysis of tourist and architectural literature, in particular, reveals that aerial views became increasingly pervasive over the 1920s and 1930s, and that Aerofilms played a central role in shaping an aerial iconography of London.