Royal Flying Corps Type A Camera

This hand-held, glass plate camera was designed by the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and manufactured by the Thornton Pickard Camera Company for aerial photography.

The importance of photographic reconnaissance was realised soon after the outbreak of the First World War and a suitable camera was urgently needed by the RFC. The Type A Camera was designed and built quickly but when it entered service in 1915 observers found it heavy and cumbersome to use. The complexity of changing the glass plates after each exposure was a major disadvantage.