I'd like to know specifically too how these were used.
These two videos are less than an hour and provide a quick overview of some of the early cold war activity regarding aerial surveillance. A scene shows some big film; larger than would be used in a 5x5" AE lens like we have. I suspect as altitudes increased during the cold war, WW-II systems quickly went out of favor. If you want to dive deep into any of the incidents in the video, there are plenty of other resources to watch or read if you like rabbit trails. It appears technology for aerial surveillance changed quickly in the decade after WW-II.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbKbL-bcq3k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBYI6fXbswM
Even a stop of light lost to darkened thorium glass isn't all a bad thing. Shooting outdoors at f2.5 means pretty high shutter speeds, so a little ND (with gentle yellow filtering) is usually helpful.
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