DECADES-old pictures of Glasgow, taken from the skies, are featured in a stunning documentary tonight.

The images, some of which are reproduced here, include the Kelvin Hall and Kelvingrove Museum in 1927, the old Carntyne stadium in 1932 - and a 1952 shot of Gallowgate, wreathed in smog.

There is also a picture of Charing Cross in 1955, a few brief years before buildings were demolished to allow a new motorway to carve through this part of the city.

The images, which will feature in Scotland from the Sky tonight, are part of the huge Scotland’s National Collection of Aerial Photography, which is held in the archives of Historic Environment Scotland (HES).

The collection is home to more than 1.6 million photographs.

Tonight’s BBC Scotland programme, the second of three, is presented by James Crawford, publishing manager at HES.

The programme reveals how post-war architects and planners “played God” by taking to the skies to help them re-design towns and cities across the central belt.

But few places have changed as much as Glasgow has.

Crawford traces the astonishing growth of Glasgow to the point where by the 1850s it was on its way to becoming “one of the greatest manufacturing machines the world has ever seen.”

But the downside was the cramming of huge numbers of workers and their families into overcrowded slum tenements, where disease was rife.

In 1945, inspired by aerial shots of the city, Glasgow’s Chief Engineer, Robert Bruce, proposed a radical plan in which the old city centre would be levelled.

Buildings including Central Station and the City Chambers would be demolished.

But the Bruce plan was scrapped in 1947 on grounds of cost.

Tonight’s programme also looks back at the 1938 Empire Exhibition at Bellahouston Park and its centrepiece, Thomas Tait’s ‘Tower of Empire’

Pictures courtesy of BBC Scotland/Historic Environment Scotland.

Scotland from the Sky, BBC One Scotland, tonight, 9pm. A book to accompany the series, Scotland from the Sky, by James Crawford (Historic Environment Scotland, £25) is now on sale.