Aerial Photographs by U-2 Planes as a research material

Its value and tasks to be tackled

Abstract

Recently, speakers recognized that the aerial photographs of mainland China, which were taken from U-2 planes, has been opened to the public at the National Archives and Resource Administration, College Park, Maryland, United States. Since 1962, U-2 planes made flights over mainland China for the reconnaissance of the enhancement of armaments such as the development of nuclear weapons and deployment of missiles. In order to utilize aerial photographs with high resolution, U-2 planes brought, for geographical study of mainland China, several points mainly on the time-space coverage of these photographs were discussed.