Identity of aerial photographs

Also crashed to earth next to the Tower Blackpool was Clem Sohn the so called birdman who used to parachute and freefall with sort of wings.

All,
Many thanks for all your assistance regarding these pics.
It never ceases to amaze me how much information and knowledge is available on here, not to mention the willingness to offer help.
All the best
Gerry

Second picture, is definitely Blackpool, compare pictures.
http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/blackpool_centrtal/index.shtml
absolutley identical.

Scotavia, Blackpool is also my home town, although the station had just about gone by the time I arrived in 1970. Apart from a brief stay at Swinderby I lived there until 2004 when I moved south.
taken 1970 (c)Kevin Lane

I am still not 100% convinced about the Blackpool one, though in fairness the area has changed so much since the original was taken.

The area had a massive regeneration plan implemented in the 1970s/80s. The old photo I posted was taken from this sitehere

More info on the defiant crash here

Martin

Astonishing that you choose a view from my hometown which I recognised. I suppose that being an aerial photographer helped. I recall visiting that Central station before it closed .

Hi all,
I am trying to identify the locations where the attached photographs were taken.
(snip)
Gerry

So, the answer is – on the ground!

:p

Richard

Good fun that, and I learned about British Restaurants too. What’s next?

No, Gerry, sorry I wasn’t joking about it being taken from high ground! Never mind, it was an interesting exercise!

Dave S

Difficult to see those in my image – what with the tear marks and the fact that I screwed it up and threw it in the bin!
Still it was fun while it lasted. Not.:D
Tell me you were joking about the high ground in picture 1.
Gerry

I’m not sure I’d like to fly that close to the fence at the end of the field in the foreground of the first picture

Richard

Difficult to see those in my image – what with the tear marks and the fact that I screwed it up and threw it in the bin!
Still it was fun while it lasted. Not.:D
Tell me you were joking about the high ground in picture 1.
Gerry

Oh dear! In defence, there is a B-24 crash site and memorial just out of the photo to the left and an Oxford crash site just out of the photo to the right. Not to mention Saunders Roe at Beaumaris in the distance. And a Botha did crash on the booking office at Blackpool Station after a collision with a Defiant …

Doh,
How stupid do I feel!!!!
I wrote my second reply before seeing the previous posts that make everything absolutely clear.
I had romantic visions of the picture being taken from a Blenheim or such during WW2.
Gents, what a superb bunch you are.
Thanks once again for some superb sleuthing.
Best wishes
Gerry (tail between legs and head held low)

Very plain fare, I should imagine! See here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Restaurant

A pretty good team effort to identify these places, I think. But Gerry should be suspended from the forum for misleading us that they were taken from aeroplanes. 😀 One from the tower and one from the high ground behind the coast here.

Crikey Gents,
That is an amazing bit of deduction!!
Yes the second image is definitely Dwygyfylchi.
I have compared the image with a modern Google earth image that i have tilted to achieve a similar angle to the one in the original and it matches absolutely perfectly.
I am still not 100% convinced about the Blackpool one, though in fairness the area has changed so much since the original was taken.
Thanks you all so much for your assistance with this – absolutely fantastic.
Were there any airfields near Dwygyfylchi during WW2?
Best wishes
gerry

This building was Clark and Heaps British Restaurant on Central Beach it is now an amusement arcade and cafe.

Martin

Fantastic!

I wonder what was on the menu of a “British” restaurant?

Richard

The second one says British Clarke and…. on the roof in the bottom right hand corner

This building was Clark and Heaps British Restaurant on Central Beach it is now an amusement arcade and cafe.

Martin

The second photo is definitely the old Blackpool Central Station. The station closed in 1964. Sadly no longer standing it is now the main central car park and the platforms on the lower right are now part of the Coral Island amusement complex. The track bed for the line is now the main link road from the M55 motorway and the old toilet block in bottom centre of the picture was, up until 2009 when it was also demolished, the last building remaining from the old station along with a low brick wall which marked the eastern boundary with Central Drive. The photo was taken from the top of the Tower. The Gasometer in the top of the picture is now the home of Blackpool Football Club
[ATTACH]194675[/ATTACH]Taken 1908
[ATTACH]194676[/ATTACH]Taken 2005

Hope this helps

Martin

Here are the two groups of houses from the first picture, in Dwygyfylchi (well played Atcham Tower):

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Dwygyfylchi&ie=UTF8&hl=en&hq=&hnear=Dwygyfylchi,+Penmaenmawr,+Conwy,+United+Kingdom&ll=53.277718,-3.89829&spn=0.0034,0.009645&t=h&z=17

Richard

That looks like Dwygyfylchi (not quite as difficult to pronounce as it looks!) in the centre, with Penmaenmawr in the left distance. And as Richard says, that is Anglesey in the distance.

First one try Colwyn Bay

What about the island in the background? I think that is a bit of Anglesea

Richard

Blackpool North is a good call:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=blackpool&aq=&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=13.783636,39.506836&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Blackpool,+United+Kingdom&ll=53.823291,-3.049822&spn=0.006713,0.027466&t=h&z=16

First one try Colwyn Bay,second one Blackpool Central station, both long shots.