Aerial reconnaissance Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance that is conducted using unmanned aerial vehicle s or reconnaissance aircraft . Their roles are to collect imagery intelligence , signals intelligence , and measurement and signature intelligence . History . Pre World War I . After the French Revolution , the new rulers became interested in using the balloon to observe enemy manoeuvres and appointed scientist Charles Coutelle to conduct studies using the balloon " L ' Entreprenant " , the first military reconnaissance aircraft . The balloon found its first use in the , where in the Battle of Fleurus the gathered information and the demoralizing effect on the Austrian troops ensured victory for the French troops . After the invention of photography , primitive aerial photographs were made of the ground from manned and unmanned balloons , starting in the 1860s , and from tethered kites from the 1880s onwards . An example was Arthur Batut ' s kite - borne camera photographs of Labruguière starting from 1889 . In the early 20th century , Julius Neubronner experimented with pigeon photography . The pigeons carried small cameras with timers . Ludwig Rahrmann in 1891 patented a means of attaching a camera to a large calibre artillery projectile or rocket , and this inspired Alfred Maul to develop his Maul Camera Rocket s starting in 1903 . Alfred Nobel in 1896 had already built the first rocket carrying a camera , which took photographs of the Swedish landscape during its flights . Maul improved his camera rockets and the Austrian Army even tested them in the Turkish - Bulgarian War in 1912 and 1913 , but by then and from that time on camera - carrying aircraft were found to be superior . The first use of airplanes in combat missions was by the Italian Air Force during the Italo - Turkish War of 1911 - 1912 . On 23 October 1911 , an Italian pilot flew over the Turkish lines in Libya to conduct history ' s first aerial reconnaissance mission , and on 1 November 1911 , the first ever aerial bomb was dropped on the Turkish troops in Libya . On 16 October 1912 a Bulgarian Albatros aircraft was used to perform Europe ' s first reconnaissance flight in combat conditions , against the Turkish lines on the Balkan peninsula , during the Balkan Wars of 1912 - 1913 . World War I and II . During World War I , photo - reconnaissance , now called IMINT , was one of the early uses of the aeroplane . Aviators such as Fred Zinn evolved an entire range of new flying and photography techniques to use the new technology in the equally new environment of trench warfare . See special article , Aerial Reconnaissance in World War I . Aerial photography was also used in cartography and military mapping . Some of the techniques developed for topographic surveying in Alaska were applied to aerial photography when James W . Bagley left the US Geological Survey and joined the US Army Corps of Engineers during World War I . Before World War II the conventional wisdom was to use converted bomber types for airborne photo - reconnaissance . These bombers retained their defensive armament , which was vital since they were unable to avoid interception . Later it was found that day bombers required a fighter escort . See also special article , Aerial reconnaissance in World War II . In 1939 Sidney Cotton and Flying Officer Maurice Longbottom of the RAF were among the first to suggest that airborne reconnaissance may be a task better suited to fast , small aircraft which would use their speed and high service ceiling to avoid detection and interception . Although this seems obvious now , with modern reconnaissance tasks performed by fast , high flying aircraft , at the time it was radical thinking . They proposed the use of Spitfires with their armament and radios removed and replaced with extra fuel and cameras . This led to the development of the Spitfire PR variants . Spitfires proved to be extremely successful in their reconnaissance role and there were many variants built specifically for that purpose . They served initially with what later became No . 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit ( PRU ) . During World War II , fighters such as the British Spitfire and Mosquito and the American P - 38 Lightning and P - 51 Mustang were adapted for photo - reconnaissance . Such craft were stripped of weaponry , painted in sky camouflage colours to make them difficult to spot in the air , and often had engines modified for higher performance at very high altitudes ( well over 40 , 000 feet ) . Early in the war the British developed a camera - warming system to allow photographs to be taken at very high altitudes . Based at RAF Medmenham , the collection and interpretation of such photographs became a considerable enterprise . The British , at their peak , flew over 100 reconnaissance flights a day , yielding 50 , 000 images per day to interpret . Similar efforts were taken by other countries . The Japanese Mitsubishi Ki - 46 , a purpose - built twin - engined reconnaissance aircraft armed with only one light gun , entered service in 1941 . The reconnaissance plane that had the earliest and greatest influence for the Americans in WWII was the F - 4 , a factory modification of the P - 38E which replaced the four guns and cannon with four high - quality K - 17 cameras . Some 120 F - 4 and F - 4As were hurriedly made available by March 1942 , reaching the 8th Photographic Squadron in Australia by April ( the first P - 38s to see action ) . The F - 4 had an early advantage of long range and high speed combined with the ability to fly at high altitude ; a potent combination for reconnaissance . In the last half of 1942 , Lockheed would produce 96 F - 5As , based on the P - 38G . The Lightning in its reconnaissance role was so well liked by military strategists that hundreds of gun - equipped P - 38s were field modified into camera - toting F - 5 variants . Later in the war , the Mustang F - 6 arrived , eventually becoming the dominant reconnaissance model flown by the US in Europe . US photo - reconnaissance operations in Europe were based at RAF Mount Farm , with the resulting photographs being transferred to Medmenham for interpretation . However it was the Mosquito that excelled in the photo - reconnaissance role , the converted bomber being given three cameras installed in what had been the bomb bay . The first converted PRU ( Photo - Reconnaissance Unit ) Mosquito being delivered to RAF Benson in July 1941 by Geoffrey de Havilland himself . Thereafter , the Mosquito was faster than most fighters above 40 , 000 ft , and could roam almost anywhere . Colonel Roy M . Stanley II , USAF ( RET ) wrote ; " I consider the Mosquito the best photo reconnaissance aircraft of the war " . The US designation for the photo - reconnaissance Mosquito was F - 8 . Approximately 15 , 000 Fairchild K - 20 aerial cameras were manufactured between 1941 and 1945 . Cold War . Immediately after World War II , long range aerial reconnaissance was taken up by adapted jet bombers – such as the English Electric Canberra , and its American development , the Martin B - 57 – capable of flying higher or faster than the enemy . After the Korean War , RB - 47 aircraft were used . These were at first converted B - 47 jet bombers , but later these were purposely built RB - 47 reconnaissance planes . They did not carry any bombs . They had large cameras mounted in the belly of the plane , and with a truncated bomb bay used for carrying photo - flash bombs . The onset of the Cold War led the development of highly specialized and secretive strategic reconnaissance aircraft , or spy planes , such as the Lockheed U - 2 and its successor , the SR - 71 Blackbird ( both from the United States ) . Flying these aircraft became an exceptionally demanding task , as much because of the aircraft ' s extreme speed and altitude as it was because of the risk of being captured as spies . As a result , the crews of these aircraft were invariably specially selected and trained . There are claims that the US constructed a hypersonic reconnaissance aircraft , dubbed the Aurora , in the late 1980s to replace the Blackbird . Since the early 1960s , in the United States aerial and satellite reconnaissance has been coordinated by the National Reconnaissance Office . Modern era . In 2001 , in what became known as the Hainan Island incident , a Chinese interceptor collided with a US Navy EP - 3 Orion on a signals reconnaissance mission . The crew of the larger US aircraft made an emergency landing . The aircraft and crew were later released by the Chinese authorities . Modern technology . Miniature UAVs . Due to the low cost of miniature UAVs , this technology brings aerial reconnaissance into the hands of soldiers on the ground . The soldier on the ground can both control the UAV and see its output , yielding great benefit over a disconnected approach . With small systems being man packable , operators are now able to deploy air assets quickly and directly . The low cost and ease of operation of these miniature UAVs has enabled forces such as the Libyan Rebels to use miniature UAVs . Reconnaissance pods . Reconnaissance pods can be carried by fighter - bomber aircraft . Examples include the British DJRP ; Chinese KZ900 ; UK RAPTOR ; and US TARPS . Some aircraft made for non - military applications also have reconnaissance pods , i . e . the Qinetiq Mercator