{"id":3020,"date":"2026-04-07T13:15:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/geolab\/?p=3020"},"modified":"2026-04-07T13:15:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:15:40","slug":"introduction-to-the-paul-sharpe-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/geolab\/2026\/04\/07\/introduction-to-the-paul-sharpe-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"Motor Lodges, Mourners, and Upward Mobility: An Introduction to the Paul Sharpe Aerial Photograph Collection, 1947-1952"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Joshua MacFadyen, Abigail Fenton, and Fabian Wegner, 7 April, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cross-posted from the Acadiensis blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UPEI lab for Geospatial Research in Atlantic Canadian History (the GeoREACH Lab) recently added a new layer of aerial photographs to GeoPEI: the Prince Edward Island Historical Map Viewer platform (www.upei.ca\/GeoPEI<\/a>).[1]<\/sup><\/a> GeoPEI already contains aerial photos from 1935, 1958, 1968, 1990, 2000, and 2020, offering historical views of the entire province over nine decades. However, these new \u201coblique aerial\u201d photos, taken by pilot Paul Sharpe between 1947-1952, offer a unique perspective. Unlike the top-down view, Sharpe\u2019s oblique photos were taken from an angle, offering \u201cbird\u2019s eye view\u201d or panoramas of the landscape, often at high resolution. Many places have a handful of obliques in their collection, but with over 500 images covering most parts of Prince Edward Island this resource will greatly help historians understand society, environment, and place in Atlantic Canada in the mid-twentieth century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The photographer, Eric Paul Sharpe, was a skilled pilot, and during his flying career, he served in the Second World War, he flew for Maritime Central Airways, and he later operated his own business, Paul\u2019s Flying Service in Charlottetown, PEI. Sharpe served with the Royal Canadian Air Force in the Second World War, flying Beaufighters and Spitfires during the Battle of Britain as a night fighter with the 410th Squadron. He also served with the 164 Transport Squadron based in Moncton, NB, and he was later transferred to Central Aircraft in London, Ontario, to test and ferry the famous Mosquito bomber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a short period flying for Maritime Central Airways, Sharpe founded Paul\u2019s Flying Service, the first licensed flight school in the Maritimes. His business offered passenger transport, aerial photography, and daily newspaper delivery to 25 rural post offices. He ran the company from 1946 to 1952, building one of the Atlantic region\u2019s leading flight schools. In 1952, he sold it to a former student, and Paul and his wife Norma Eleanor Osgood moved to Alberta and continued raising their family there. Paul retired from flying and started a new career in land transportation. Over his 15 years as a pilot, Sharpe flew 44 aircraft types and logged over a million miles and 6,017 hours in the air.[2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2025, members of Sharpe\u2019s family saw the work of the GeoREACH Lab and offered to share this impressive collection of oblique aerial photographs with us. We digitized the photographs and geolocated all of them, creating a geospatial index map which is now visible as a layer on the GeoPEI website. Clicking on each dot will produce a medium-resolution scan of the photograph which may be downloaded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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