Photo Reconnaissance was justified by the value of the intelligence they brought back for use in allied bombing of
Germany. The Spitfire was designed as a short-range, high-performance interceptor aircraft. Its speed was essential
to carrying out the mission of home defense against enemy bombers, but it excelled in photo reconnaissance in war:
Large area map making, where, the pilot would fly back and forth in long swaths at high altitude with a fast turn-
around requirement to produce actionable intelligence.

This remarkable video is about a young American pilot with the Guts to fly 51 unarmed missions all alone on these
critical Mapping expeditions over enemy territory. A Documentary Video was generated by the relatives of the Photo
Reconn Group Flight Surgeon, who obtained 60 year old 16MM movie footage and succeeded in looking up and finding
the Pilot now an old man but very much alive and seeing himself as the young Pilot. Their meeting and Documentary
is astounding.