Aerial photographic map of Rhodesia

An email has come in from Ian Titchner, who has in his possession a Fairey Air Surveys aerial photographic map 3ft x 4ft (presumably a mosaic) of Salisbury in Rhodesia, which he is offering free of charge to anyone who would appreciate it.

If anyone is interested, please email admin@faireysurveys.co.uk, and we will pass your message on – the Reply/Comments feature seems to have a glitch at the moment.

The email is below:

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My name is Ian Titchner, I’m 59 years old and live in Cornwall, I have no connection to Zimbabwe or Fairey at all. For several years now I have been in possession of a huge and splendid black and white photographic aerial map of central Salisbury, Rhodesia. When I say huge …. it is 3ft wide and 4ft tall, it has some of the (old?) road names super-imposed onto it, also the names of some “important” buildings. I had intended to put it on eBay assuming that it may be of interest to past or present residents of Salisbury, but when I found your website I thought I’d offer it here first. I guess that the photograph was taken in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s, but I am no expert! The scale of the map/photograph is 10 inches to 1 mile. Anyway, it’s one of those things that keeps cropping up annually and I keep thinking that I’ll put it on eBay and I never get around to it. I pulled it out again this morning and had a good look at it and noticed the name Fairey Air Surveys, hence this eMail. It has been neatly folded for donkey’s years so there is minor damage where the folds cross each other, that said it is in excellent condition given that it must be over 50 years old. Because of the size of it, taking a photograph would not really do it justice. My question is ….. does anyone want it? I don’t want any money for it, simply eMail me your address and I will post it to you, it needs to be in the hands of somebody who will appreciate it! If “Admin” are not interested, please feel free to share this eMail on your site, in case somebody else is interested in it. Needless to say, I only have one of these so ultimately it will have to be sent to the first person to contact me.
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4 Replies to “Aerial photographic map of Rhodesia”

  1. Hi Ian,
    That sounds like a photographic map that I produced when I worked for Fairey Air Surveys in Salisbury in 1968.
    I was their photographer and the pilot was Jim Storry.
    The manager was Roland Steere and the aircraft which we operated in was a D H Dove (VP-YMF)
    I would be interested to hear from anyone who remembers any of the above details.
    Many thanks, Bruce McDonald.

    1. Hi Bruce. I flew with Air survey, in Zim with Bill Jones.
      We did the whole of Rhodesia, flying off 1:50th maps, in 3 months, bill brilliant pilot, we never had to had re do any sections, we just flew all day, on # oxygen(massive headach), changed film in the toilet.
      Stayed tambuti at Buffalo range, wankie, vic falls, byo,
      and half of Mozambique, when Bill just carried on and left camera on until we were #on as could have been shot at. JSPAS loved it.
      Such a shame, I carried so much #, flew all day, to tired to take own pics, never even had Pic of our dove.
      If I find anything will send you.
      Gavin

  2. Hello Ian Titchner. I suggest you contact the National Collection for Aerial Photography (NCAP) in Edinburgh. Write to Allan Williams the Director. I am sure he and NCAP will be interested as they have millions of air photos made all over the world. I have donated all of my aerial photo collection to them. He can be mailed at
    Thanks Neil

    1. Neil, our anti-spam filter is a bit wary of external links in Comments. If you could send me the email address for Allan Williams at the NCAP (see admin email address in Contact and Links) I’ll forward it on to Ian Titchner. I’ll also put a note directly in the ‘Links to other sources of information’ as we regularly get requests for aerial photography which could well be in the NCAP archive.

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