Sideways aerial view of the ruins of Ypres.

Silver print, 17 x 23 cm, glued on cardboard, under passe partout.

Very rare, clear view of the totally destroyed city of Ypres, a Belgian municipality in the province of West Flanders, during the First World War. The only other traced copy found in "Archives municipales de Toulouse", "Fonds Berthelé". That copy is particularly interesting because it bears a ticket with following text: "Obs. Lt. Ch. Coomans, Pil. Lt. de Meeûs, alt. 600m, 26 juin 1917, Ypres". Coomans (1894-1918) went to military school from early age on. In 1915 he made his transition to military aviation. Together with his pilot Jacques de Meeus (1893-1917) he completed many flights as an artillery observer. The flight on June 1917 Coomans recorded in his logbook as "photo mission".
Ref. www.luchtvaartgeschiedenis.be/content/charles-coomans.