The company was founded in 1948 by Joe Marold of the U.S. Forest Service. In June of that year, flights of the Denver Metro Area were begun. Since that time, CAPS has obtained yearly coverage of the Denver Front Range and other Colorado areas. The inaugural flight on June 12, 1948 was flown with an AT-6 Texan, a WW II vintage aircraft. This is the plane featured at the top of the web pages. In 1979 Colorado Aerial Photo Service ( CAPS ) was acquired by John P. Young, current owner and pilot. The company has in its archives about 70, 000 historic aerial photos of Colorado. CAPS maintains an office and research facilities near Federal Blvd. and W. 2nd Ave, in Denver, Colorado, where nearly 70, 000 contact prints are available for in house research.