Pai Bridge

The Pai River bridge is often cited as the most visible evidence of the presence of Japan's Army in Northern Thailand during WWII.
But the bridge was actually built after the war. This website attempts to correct both that misconception and others about the period.

Lanna-ww2

Japan in Northwest Thailand during World War II

N18°08
E100°09[1]
Phrae (Th: แพร่ / Jp: プェエ )
Williams-Hunt (W-H) Aerial Photomosaics
Page 1 of 1

Route 0101
Station 00c[2]

 

Text Notes

This page discusses World War II aerial photos taken by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and provided on-line by the Geo-spatial Digital Archive Project (GDAP) in its Williams-Hunt Aerial Photograph Digital Collection.[2a]


The Williams-Hunt collection has two separate sets of aerial photos for Phrae, located as shown:[3]

Phrae location

In the following, aerial photos were manually joined into mosaics because Microsoft ICE (Image Composition Editor) introduced too much distortion.


Photomosaic No. 1

The area around Phrae outlined above in red was recorded in six RAF aerial photos taken on 07 March 1944:[4]

Six photo mosaic of Phrae

A higher resolution image is available for download here.

The following GDAP images were used in the above photomosaic:[5]

02580.jpg
02581.jpg
02582.jpg
02583.jpg
02584.jpg
02585.jpg

and assembled approximately like this, using manual fitting:[6]

Photomosaic No 1 assembly


Photomosaic No. 2

An alternate, macro, two-photo view dated 24 January 1944, as outlined in blue on the site map above, was also recorded:[7]

Two photo macro mosaic of Phrae

A higher resolution image is available for download here.

The following GDAP images were used in the above photomosaic:

02577.jpg
02578.jpg

and manually assembled approximately like this:[8]

Phrae Photomosaic No 2 assembly

 


GDAP, the source of these photos, has asked that the following information be included regarding the aerial imagery shown above:

  • Williams-Hunt Aerial Photos Collection
  • Original from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
  • Digital Data from Center for Southeast Asia Studies (CSEAS), Kyoto University
  • Digital Archive from Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy (CRMA), Thailand

 

Revision List
Rev
Date
Description
0
2012 Oct 05
First published on Internet

 

 

 

See Key for interpreting page content.

Revision list. See bottom of Text column on this page.

Bibliography supports notes.

1.^ Source: Google Earth fix on apparent center of town.

2.^ Stationing needed.

2a.^ The collection and its origin are described in detail in:

Lertlum, PhD, Col Surat, and Dr Elizabeth Moore, Williams-Hunt Aerial Photograph Collection, (undated); available as here linked.

Moore, Elizabeth, The Williams-Hunt Collection, Sari - International Journal of the Malay World and Civilisation, 27(2)(2009), pp 265-284.

Periasamy, Makeswary, "A View from the Top",  biblioasia, 5(1) (Apr 2009), pp 38-42.

3.^ "Terrain" map from  Nations Online Project: Searchable Map and Satellite View of Thailand using Google Earth Data. Annotation (red & blue colored items) aligned with Adobe PhotoShop and placed with Microsoft Publisher by author.

4.^ Photos were manually assembled.

The mosaic is oriented so that its north is to the top of the page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.^ The files used here are 1024 KB. Downloading the files which are designated "[full size]" requires a special request form to be emailed to the Head, GDAP.

 

6.^ Drawn with Microsoft Publisher by author.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7.^ Photos were manually assembled.

The mosaic is reoriented so that its north is to the top of the page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8.^ Drawn with Microsoft Publisher by author.