I never met my grandpa Paco but when I was younger my mom told me that when he was in WWII he flew over areas where bombs had been dropped (really sad stuff he didn't want to talk about) and took pictures. I was thinking about why the US would want to send people over just to take pictures? I hope someone can answer both my questions: Did soldiers fly planes over the aftermath of a bomb for pictures? And if so why?
Oh absolutely!
Even if it was just one plane that would have a handheld camera to assess the results before leaving, or an entire dedicated aircraft as a phot recon variant, swapping out its weapons for cameras.
The point was to see how effective attacks actually were, to assess the need for follow up strikes, and to better judge the impact on the enemy either in losses or disrupted production. Estimates from air crews were generally pretty terrible with assessing actual hits, the size and type of targets, and damage done(a fire can look bad on a ship but if it gets put out the next plane might think the ship was undamaged and report the presence of a second ship).
Aircraft from the massive B-17 bombers, to small fighter such as the P-38 and Spitfire all had photo recon variants produced during the war. In addition to following raids recon aircraft were crucial in providing up to date photos of areas of interest, crucial in making the millions of maps required to run a global war.
As /u/DBHT14 says, absolutely. Some of the bombers themselves would typically be equipped with cameras to immediately judge the accuracy of raids, dedicated reconnaissance aircraft would later fly over targets to assess damage. War Department Field Manual FM 30-21, "Aerial Photography, Military Applications", outlines the different types of photography undertaken for mapping and charting and reconnaissance purposes. It states:
"DAMAGE ASSESSMENT PHOTOGRAPHY. As soon as practicable, reconnaissance is dispatched to procure photography to be used in the assessment of damage. This photography is normally accomplished by reconnaissance aircraft. Similarly, in tactical reconnaissance, photography is accomplished for the same purpose after artillery bombardment. Damage assessment determines the point beyond which further bombardment is no longer necessary, and permits an estimate of the probable damage that will be caused by similar missions against similar targets. It is also useful in long range intelligence to determine enemy capabilities."
Damage Assessment Reports containing photographs, interpretation reports and other intelligence summaries, are held in the [National Archives] (https://catalog.archives.gov/id/561358).
Other uses of aerial reconnaissance included charting and mapping, intelligence gathering, and low-level tactical reconnaissance (often carried out by armed aircraft able to attack targets of opportunity) providing more immediate information to local units.
The [AIRRECCE] (http://www.airrecce.co.uk/index.html) website has some information on the aircraft and equipment used in aerial reconnaissance, and [examples of photographs] (http://www.airrecce.co.uk/WW2/imagery/ww2_imagery.html). Other examples can be found online at the [Imperial War Museum] (http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections), such as [a photograph of the Focke Wulf aircraft works at Neuenland after a September 1942 raid] (http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205023117).