01-07-2007, 07:46 PM
You have now had the chance to inspect the detailed photographs of various components of Hadrian's Wall, as well as examine the possibilities of what can be done with the existing vertical aerial coverage of the area. However, what is lacking is oblique aerial photography that is available with a Creative Commons licence that can, like the photos from the ground, be used for educational or non-commercial purposes. If you want to see how good oblique aerial photography of the Wall can be, look at what this chap achieves from his autogyro.
Now I have a proposal. I have the opportunity to use a two-seat high-wing monoplane in April to fly the length of the Wall and back and take digital photos of the whole thing, as well as details of important components like the forts and surviving milecastles and turrets. If all goes well, it may even be possible to do the outward trip along the Wall and the return part along the Stanegate. The aircraft is one of the tugs at my gliding club and, as a member, I get the use of it at an extremely preferential rate. However, it still costs £105 per hour and the flight from one end of the Wall to the other and back is about two hours so I need to raise at least £210 to cover the cost of the flight.
This is where RAT members come in. I am looking for sponsorship to cover the cost (even $10/£10/€10 can help) and have already had some offers (and one £10 note!). The resulting photos will initially be placed on Flickr with a CC Attribution/Non-Commercial/Share-and-Share-Alike licence which means they can be used for the purposes outlined above, whilst any requests for commercial use (admittedly unlikely with my photographic skills, although my snaps have been known to adorn Osprey volumes) will be directed to Jasper, who can have the proceeds for the commercial rights towards RAT funds. The licence also permits RAC to copy the images, so long after my Flickr account has gone, the pictures could still be available through RAC. So, a community effort with tangible community benefits.
The flight is scheduled for April (when the tug has to be down at Carlisle for a flying week) and will take some careful planning as it involves passing through the controlled airspace of Newcastle airport (fortunately my pilot is a former air traffic controller and we will be going down to see them beforehand).
If you want to help, make a pledge here, or if you would rather it remained anonymous, contact Jasper or me directly. If this is successful who knows what next: the Antonine Wall, the outpost forts? Perhaps other members of RAT could do something similar on other frontiers; the possibilities are intriguing.
Mike Bishop
Now I have a proposal. I have the opportunity to use a two-seat high-wing monoplane in April to fly the length of the Wall and back and take digital photos of the whole thing, as well as details of important components like the forts and surviving milecastles and turrets. If all goes well, it may even be possible to do the outward trip along the Wall and the return part along the Stanegate. The aircraft is one of the tugs at my gliding club and, as a member, I get the use of it at an extremely preferential rate. However, it still costs £105 per hour and the flight from one end of the Wall to the other and back is about two hours so I need to raise at least £210 to cover the cost of the flight.
This is where RAT members come in. I am looking for sponsorship to cover the cost (even $10/£10/€10 can help) and have already had some offers (and one £10 note!). The resulting photos will initially be placed on Flickr with a CC Attribution/Non-Commercial/Share-and-Share-Alike licence which means they can be used for the purposes outlined above, whilst any requests for commercial use (admittedly unlikely with my photographic skills, although my snaps have been known to adorn Osprey volumes) will be directed to Jasper, who can have the proceeds for the commercial rights towards RAT funds. The licence also permits RAC to copy the images, so long after my Flickr account has gone, the pictures could still be available through RAC. So, a community effort with tangible community benefits.
The flight is scheduled for April (when the tug has to be down at Carlisle for a flying week) and will take some careful planning as it involves passing through the controlled airspace of Newcastle airport (fortunately my pilot is a former air traffic controller and we will be going down to see them beforehand).
If you want to help, make a pledge here, or if you would rather it remained anonymous, contact Jasper or me directly. If this is successful who knows what next: the Antonine Wall, the outpost forts? Perhaps other members of RAT could do something similar on other frontiers; the possibilities are intriguing.
Mike Bishop