CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

Douglas Webb

English photographer (1922–1996)

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 5, 2024
Entity authorityQ5302089
Source-derived summary

Douglas Webb DFM, (12 September 1922 – 8 December 1996) was a British photographer who worked in the film and television industries. He was also a veteran of the Dam Busters raid.

Early life

Webb was born in Leytonstone, London. Before the war he worked for Ilford and then as a printer with the London News Agency in Fleet Street.

World War II

During World War II he served with the Royal Air Force as an air gunner with No. 49 Squadron and No. 617 Squadron. Douglas was front gunner with the crew of the Avro Lancaster AJ'O' for Orange, piloted by William Townsend, which took part in the Dam Busters Raid.

Webb was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal for his part in the operation. Five of the crew were also given medals, making them the second most decorated Dams Raid crew after Guy Gibson's.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Douglas Webb” is english photographer (1922–1996). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Douglas, Webb and English, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1922, 1996—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1922-09-12. For this dossier, Douglas, Webb and English is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “english photographer (1922–1996)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 5, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q5302089. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1922 and 1996.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Douglas Webb”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Douglas Webb primary sources, Douglas Webb archive and Douglas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Douglas Webb”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Douglas Webb” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.