No. 3 Photo Reconnaissance Unit RAF

[[File:]]

Brief History

No 3 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit was formed at Royal Air Force Oakington on 16 Nov 1940 tasked with gathering bomb damage assessment photography for Bomber Command. The rationale behind this decision being that No 1 PRU had failed to obtain sufficient imagery to confirm the positive results of RAF bombing raids.

With shortages of planes and pilots at the time, it took the units Commanding Officer some months to obtain his aircraft. Cameras were even more of a problem, especially those with long focal lengths which would be suitable for detailed high altitude reconnaissance. In the event, No 3 PRU salvaged German Zeiss cameras from crashed enemy reconnaissance aircraft and installed them in their Spitfires. The unit's first operational sortie was undertaken on 29 Nov 1940 and by January 1941 the Squadron Leader had some 5 Spitfires and 2 night reconnaissance Wellingtons at his disposal.

Far from proving that the Bomber Command crews were being successful, No 3 PRU soon established that bombing accuracies were significantly worse than even No 1 PRU had been suggesting. Indeed, pioneering night photography proved that only 14% of Bomber Command's aircraft were over the target at the time they released their bombs.

Cameras were added to bomber aircraft themselves, but these confirmed earlier results. For example on 24 Dec 1940 some 1,000 bombs had been dropped on Gelsenkirchen, but only a handful of craters were evident on the post-attack photography of the target.

Eventually evidence of Bomber Command's true results filtered through to the highest levels and it rapidly turned to action in the form of scientific and technical solutions to improve bombing accuracy such as new bombsights, navigation aids and ground mapping radar.

On 14th Mar 1941, Sqn Ldr Ogilive conducted a post-attack reconnaissance of Berlin following a raid by No.40 Squadron RAF. He become the first RAF pilot to overfly the German Capital in daylight. He collected 95 images. By July when the unit was absorbed into the RAF's mainstream reconnaissance force, No 3 PRU had flown 285 Spitfire and 13 Wellington operational reconnaissance sorties. In eight months, the unit had proven the worth of night reconnaissance and established many of the principles of bomb damage reconnaissance and interpretation.

As a result a specialist night reconnaissance unit was formed, No 544 Squadron RAAF and a Wellington subsequently flew the opening night reconnaissance sortie of D Day. No 3 PRU was subsequently re-formed in the Far East, based at Dum Dum in Kolkata, India.

Unit Personnel

• Charles Douglas Pailthorpe DFC 30 Apr - 24 Dec 1942