Italy/Sicily. C. 1943-06. A RAF reconnaissance Spitfire took photographs of a naval and aerial ...

Italy/Sicily. C. 1943-06. A RAF reconnaissance Spitfire took photographs of a naval and aerial combat in the Straits of Messina. At the time these photographs were the sole source of information available. From examinations of the photographs, position and times calculated from shadows, and from the concentric circles round the various points of disturbance, photographic interpretation experts formed theories and drew conclusions which were proved to be almost exactly correct when the crew of the British submarine concerned in the engagement were able to make their report. Three photographs are those on which the interpretation experts works, and this is the story they tell: In this photo No. 3 shows a torpedo boat which was escorting the Italian vessel, and which was reported by the submarine crew to have dropped depth charges. The tracks indicate that this escort vessel had made a violent and complete turn just before the Spitfire obtained this photograph.