| Photographers Mate | |
|---|---|
 Rating insignia | |
| Issued by | United States Navy |
| Type | Enlisted rating |
| Abbreviation | PH |
| Specialty | Aviation / Public affairs |
Photographers mate (or PH) was a rating in the United States Navy's aviation and public affairs community. It was merged into the Mass communication specialist rating on 1 July 2006. [1]
The father of naval photography, Walter Leroy "Dick" Richardson, enlisted as a ship's cook on 1 November 1911. In 1914, he transferred to Naval Air Station Pensacola, where his hobby of photography earned him the designation of Official Station Photographer. Richardson reenlisted as an Aviation machinist's mate in 1915 and, after attending the Army school of aerial photography at Langley Air Force Base, organized the Navy's photographic section of Bureau of Navigation. In 1918, Richardson was commissioned as an officer of the Naval Reserve Flying Corps at the first Navy photo school at NAS Miami, Florida. When World War I ended Lieutenant (junior grade) Richardson and a few enlisted personnel opened a school at Anacostia training navy photographers for still photography, aerial photography, motion picture photography, developing and printing. The school moved to NAS Pensacola in 1923, and the first navy photographic training textbook was published in 1927. [2]
As World War II unfolded in Europe, a Navy officer was sent to England to observe and adopt British photo interpretation methods. He returned to set up the Navy's first photographic interpretation school. As the war expanded, Navy photographers were trained by Movietone News, Kodak, and Fairchild Camera and Instrument company. Many civilian photographers fulfilled their military obligation by serving in combat photography units (CPUs). The war saw 1,500 naval officers and 5,300 enlisted men trained at the Navy photography school. The Navy Photographic Science Laboratory established in Washington, D.C. in 1943, was later renamed the Naval Photographic Center. [3]
In 1948, the photographer's mate abbreviation changed from PHOM to PH, and the symbol of the camera on the rating badge was replaced by divergent light rays passing through a lens. As jet aircraft appeared, the old 9 in (230 mm) film width was replaced by 70 mm (2.8 in) and then 5 in (130 mm) film in larger cameras. The RF-8 Crusader was replaced by the RA-5 Vigilante aboard Forrestal-class super carriers equipped with a chute from the flight deck to a photo darkroom so film packages detached from the aircraft upon landing could be fed into developing machines to be available for debriefing when the pilot reached his ready room. Navy photographers were sent to the University of Southern California to study motion picture production techniques, and to Syracuse University for photojournalism training. [3]
Talbert "Ted" Abrams was an American photographer and aviator known as the "father of aerial photography".
Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola, "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United States Navy base located next to Warrington, Florida, a community southwest of the Pensacola city limits. It is best known as the initial primary training base for all U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard officers pursuing designation as naval aviators and naval flight officers, the advanced training base for most naval flight officers, and as the home base for the United States Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the precision-flying team known as the Blue Angels.
The Aircrew Badge, commonly known as Wings, is a qualification badge of the United States military that is awarded by all five branches of armed services to personnel who serve as aircrew members on board military aircraft. The badge is intended to recognize the training and qualifications required by aircrew of military aircraft. In order to qualify as an aircrew member and receive the Aircrew Badge, such personnel typically undergo advanced training in aircraft in-flight support roles.
A naval aviator is a commissioned officer or warrant officer qualified as a crewed aircraft pilot in the United States Navy or United States Marine Corps. United States Coast Guard crewed aircraft pilots are officially designated as "Coast Guard aviators", although they complete the same undergraduate flight training as Navy and Marine Corps crewed aircraft pilots, and are awarded the same aviation breast insignia.
The United States Navy's Officer Candidate School provides initial training for officers of the line and select operational staff corps communities in the United States Navy. Along with United States Naval Academy (USNA) and Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC), OCS is one of three principal sources of newly commissioned naval officers.
Training Squadron TEN (VT-10) is a training squadron of the United States Navy. The squadron is homebased at NAS Pensacola, Florida.
Training Squadron EIGHT SIX (VT-86), also known as the "Sabrehawks," is a United States Navy advanced jet training squadron based at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. Training Squadron 86 is a tenant command of Training Air Wing 6. They are a training squadron flying the T-45C Goshawk. Their tailcode is F and their radio callsign is ROKT.
Naval Air Station Kingsville or NAS Kingsville (NASK) is a United States Navy Naval Air Station located approximately 3 miles east of Kingsville, Texas in Kleberg County. NAS Kingsville is under the jurisdiction of Navy Region Southeast and is the headquarters of Training Air Wing Two. The station also operates a nearby satellite airfield, NALF Orange Grove.
George William Goddard was a United States Air Force brigadier general and a pioneer in aerial photography.
Aviation Electrician's Mate is a United States Navy occupational rating.
Naval Air Station Glynco, Georgia, was an operational naval air station from 1942 to 1974 with an FAA airfield identifier of NEA and an ICAO identifier of KNEA.
Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance for a military or strategic purpose that is conducted using reconnaissance aircraft. The role of reconnaissance can fulfil a variety of requirements including artillery spotting, the collection of imagery intelligence, and the observation of enemy maneuvers.
Naval Support Activity Mid-South, in Millington, Tennessee, is a base of the United States Navy. A part of the Navy Region Southeast and the Navy Installations Command, NSA Mid-South serves as the Navy’s Human Resources Center of Excellence. The base is host to several commands and other military tenants: Navy Personnel Command, Navy Recruiting Command, the Navy Manpower Analysis Center, a Marine Corps Reserve Company - Bridge Company C and the US Army Corps of Engineers Finance Center. More than 7,500 military, civilian, and contract personnel are assigned/work on base.
The US Navy had four programs for the training of naval aviators.
Aerial reconnaissance using heavier-than-air machines was an entirely new science that had to be improvised step-by-step. Early operations were low-level flights with the pilot often dismounting from the plane to report verbally to the nearest officers. Photographic support was urgently developed, initially requiring a full-time photographer on board to handle the heavy, awkward equipment. The interpreting of aerial images was an important new speciality, essential for accurate mapping. By 1915, air-to-ground radio was in use for reconnaissance pilots.
Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC) is the parent command of the Airman Apprenticeship Training School, and provides technical training schools for nearly all enlisted aircraft maintenance and enlisted aircrew specialties in the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard.
The Defence School of Photography (DSoP) is a training centre for all photographers drawn from the three arms of the British Military and the Civil Service. The School has been located at RAF Cosford in Shropshire, England since 1963 and in its own purpose built building at Cosford since 1965. The school has gone through several iterations being firstly a Royal Flying Corps school, then a Royal Air Force School, then a Joint school before becoming the DSoP in 2003.
VP-62 was a Patrol Squadron of the U.S. Navy. The squadron was established Fleet Air Photographic Squadron, Atlantic Fleet (FltAirPhotoRonLant), on 3 May 1942, redesignated Fleet Air Photographic Squadron 2 (FAPS-2) on 11 October 1942, redesignated Photographic Squadron 2 (VD-2) on 1 March 1943, redesignated Patrol Squadron (Photographic) 2 (VPP-2) on 15 November 1946, redesignated Patrol Squadron 62 (VP-62) on 1 September 1948 and disestablished on 30 January 1950. It was the third squadron to be designated VP-62, the first VP-62 was disestablished on 1 July 1943 and the second VP-62 was redesignated VPB-62 on 1 October 1944.
The United States Naval Photographic Science Laboratory (NPSL) was opened in the midst of the Second World War, on 24 February 1943, at the Anacostia Naval Air Station, Washington, D. C. It was established under the military command of the Chief of the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics, Division of Photography, with the mission of centralizing the production and preservation of all naval related photography operations.