Kodak military aerial camera id?

**Bob Salomon** · 29-Jan-2015, 10:13

Originally Posted by Jac@stafford.net

Either do I, but I never got closer than a half the flightline to a U2.

(Bob and I were on Recon bases during the same years, separated by half a world and nationalities.) I worked with the RAF where we had RF 101 Voodoos. Earlier I worked on an American base in France until de Gaulle kicked out the Americans and the RB66 aircraft went to Southeast Asia. At that time they were used for electronic recon, and countermeasures, and rarely for photography.)

The Widowmaker was the F104. America sold them to a few countries. I was familiar with those in Germany where some flew high-speed, crappy weather missions. The German versions fell out of the air at the rate of three a month for a while.

It's nutz, but I had one still new in the unopened box. It was horribly expensive at $125 at the time. Never used one because of no need at all. Sold the lens and threw away the rest. Really, the lens is nothing special when considered against modern lenses. Lens speed was more important in aerial recon back in the day.

Actually when we referred to the Widow Maker it was an RB 66 twin engine bomber, nothing as exotic as the 104. We used it to do a lot of aerial night photography dropping flash bombs in a trail for vertical work.

Were you at Nancy? I had orders transferring me there but my wife was too pregnant at the time for them to assign me to a foreign base. So I got sent to Hurlburt Field instead.

**Jac@stafford.net** · 29-Jan-2015, 11:04

Originally Posted by Bob Salomon - HP Marketing

[...]Were you at Nancy? I had orders transferring me there but my wife was too pregnant at the time for them to assign me to a foreign base. So I got sent to Hurlburt Field instead.

In France I was at Toul-Rosieres Air Base (Drab TRAB), worked a bit with Chambley Air Base, and hung around Metz most of the time. Hurlburt? Although very much of the Cuban Crisis photo recon film processing and rendering was out of an obscure Rochester, NY site, you were closer. Can we talk about what we know from then? I won't unless it shows up on Google.

**Bob Salomon** · 29-Jan-2015, 11:38

Originally Posted by Jac@stafford.net

In France I was at Toul-Rosieres Air Base (Drab TRAB), worked a bit with Chambley Air Base, and hung around Metz most of the time. Hurlburt? Although very much of the Cuban Crisis photo recon film processing and rendering was out of an obscure Rochester, NY site, you were closer. Can we talk about what we know from then? I won't unless it shows up on Google.

I was sent to FL after the second round of Cuba missle flights that Senator Keating started after the missles had been removed. We flew those flights out of Shaw in SC. When our unit flew the original Cuba flights they were TDY to Homestead and were flown out of there. But in those days, while I was assigned to the squadron at Shaw I was actually at Lowry going through photo school and actually joined them at Shaw after they were sent back from Homestead.

But we were involved after the missles were taken out and before we started flying it again in printing all those original shots that we took. Many are on display at the Smithsonian under a RF 101 hanging from the ceiling. At least they were. With the current conditions the display may have been taken down.

At Hurlburt and Eglin we became a test squadron. During Cuba each squadron had their own photo lab at the flight line. When Cuba was finshed someone thought that taking all of the line squadrons and consolidating them into one big building near the flight line would be better so that was the 363rd RecTec. It had the photo guys and the PIs all in the same building.

Then someone thought that it would be better if we were at the flight line so they started a test squadron at Eglin assigned to Hurlburt and we worked there until Tonkin Gulf. Then the unit went to SE Asia but I had put in for discharge that morning and did not go.

We processed that film from the original Cuban missions and the later one in our labs in FL originally, and then in SC. I think the Navy had stuff processed other places during those original flights, especially the U2 stuff.

**Leonard Robertson** · 29-Jan-2015, 14:47

It might be worth contacting this gentleman:

http://graflex.coffsbiz.com/military.html

While his interest is mainly Graflex, it looks like he may be knowledgeable on other military cameras.

Len