via Southeast Asia Globe, 25 January 2021: A rare peek at Indochina from the air, with photos taken in the 1950s by a French pilot.
Taken by Fabrice’s father Francois-Xavier Moussus sometime in 1953, they depict Cambodia just prior to independence in November that year, and Vietnam as the First Indochina War neared its climax in 1954. Among the scenes captured by Moussus – a pilot in the French Air Force who served in Indochina from 1951 to 1954 – are Phnom Penh’s Central Market and Angkor Wat in Cambodia, as well as Ha Long Bay and the Saigon Governor’s Palace in Vietnam.
“Sadly I never asked him many questions about his time in Indochina, but I believe he was based in Tourane, which became Da Nang,” Fabrice recalled of his father.
“He flew reconnaissance flights. The black and white photos were taken with an infra-red filter so they were not ‘tourist’ photos. As you can see in the few photos I have, being in the French Air Force was very different from the French forces fighting in the jungles.”
Source: [Photos] Bird’s-eye view: Aerial photos of 1953 Indochina
