WWII Aerial Photos Reveal New Insight Into Longleat’s Wartime Role

World War Two aerial images newly released by Historic England provide fascinating insights into Longleat's extensive wartime role. The black and white images were taken by the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) Photographic Reconnaissance units, stationed at bases across England in 1943 and 1944, after the US joined the war in December 1941.

The collection of 3,600 individual photographs have been made public for the first time by Historic England and detail the effect of the war on life across the country.

An image taken above the Longleat Estate in Wiltshire is providing an invaluable new resource to Longleat House Curator Dr James Ford.

“This amazing aerial photograph of Longleat in 1944 provides unique visual evidence of how the Estate contributed to the war effort during the Second World War,” said James.

“Seen at the bottom of the image are the buildings erected on the west lawns of Longleat House for the Royal School for Daughters of Officers of the Army, which relocated from Bath to Longleat during the war.

“In the middle it shows the large US military hospital which sat in an area of Longleat Park now occupied by the Safari Park. And at the top, the buildings of the RAF Crabtree depot can just be picked out hidden in the woods near what is now Longleat’s main entrance.

“Very little physical evidence remains of these temporary wartime additions, so this fascinating image provides a real step forward in better understanding a crucial period in Longleat’s - and our nation’s – history,” he added.

Some of the current road system through Longleat’s famous Safari Park overlays original roadways built by the US military and there are several surviving buildings on the edge of the estate which were used as part of the RAF depot.

Parts of Longleat House were also utilised as accommodation for the evacuated schoolchildren from Bath.