RAF Reconnaissance Photograph – Mulberry B Pierhead & Gooseberry Breakwater (D-Day, 1944)

Description

RAF Reconnaissance Photograph – Mulberry B Pierhead & Gooseberry Breakwater (D-Day, 1944)

📸 Item: Original RAF Air Ministry Reconnaissance Photograph
📅 Date: June 1944 (D-Day campaign period)
📍 Location: Arromanches, Normandy – Mulberry Harbour B (“Port Winston”)
🛩 Mission Type: Naval & engineering intelligence – artificial harbour survey
📏 Size: 13.5cm x 13.cm

Condition:
Operational wartime print with light emulsion wear and camera-port framing visible across top and bottom. Strong clarity over the water surface, with harbour structures, floating roadway sections and blockship breakwater clearly defined.

Markings:
Unmarked front (typical for technical harbour reconnaissance plates). Identifiable as part of the Mulberry B survey run via harbour layout, Gooseberry line, and pierhead configuration.

Description:
Exceptionally rare RAF aerial reconnaissance photograph showing components of the Mulberry B artificial harbour at Arromanches. Visible in the centre is a Spud Pierhead platform with attached Whale floating roadway sections, part of the modular system the Allies used to offload vehicles and supplies following D-Day.

Across the top of the frame lies the unmistakable Gooseberry 5 blockship breakwater, formed from scuttled ships placed in a line offshore to create calm water for the harbour’s operation. The alternating white (wave breaks) and dark (hull shadows) pattern is characteristic of this engineered barrier.

Mulberry Harbour photographs are highly sought-after due to their critical role in Operation Overlord and their limited survival in private collections. This frame captures the harbour system during active use, making it a significant and historically important intelligence plate.