B&L Telestigmat: What is this Thing?

[Glen Krueger]

I recently moved, and I discovered another case hidden in my closet. It's from my father's massive collection of camera gear. I thought I had sold all of it, but there was this case containing a gigantic lens: a Bausch & Lomb Telestigmat, with a 40 inch (!) focal length. It looks quite old, but it's in pretty decent shape and is complete with lens shade, caps and a couple of filters. What vintage is thing? It's mounted on a 6-1/2" square Plaubel lens board with a huge Ilex no. 5 shutter. When were these things made? It's serial number VF9178R. I can't find much info on these things: one string suggested these were used during World War II for aerial photography. This is the only lens that he actually had a nameplate fabricated for, so I figure it must be worth something.

[Richard Rankin]

According to the Lens Vademecum, this would be an aerial lens but I didn't see a listing for any of them at 40". BUT, there was a pre-war 40" that the VM says was redesigned as a 5 glass f5.6 lens, so it could be that one.

[Glen Krueger]

It's clearly marked f8, and the outer lens is 5 inches in diameter. It's just massive. But your reference to Lens Vademecum made me curious: I had never heard of this. A little research suggests this lens is indeed World War II vintage, and was probably used in aerial reconnaissance photography: the leading 'V' in the serial number suggests it was made in 1944. Are there any other tidbits you can offer me from the Vademecum?

[Glen Krueger]

So I dropped $16 on my own copy of the Lens Vademecum, and started digging. It seems that Fairchild made a model F56 camera for the US Navy in 7 x 7 format that used a f8.0/ 40 inch lens made by Bausch & Lomb. I think I'm starting to figure out what I've got here: this lens has been removed from it's original mount/ housing and has been reconfigured for use with a standard view camera (a Plaubel).