The Boston Camera, also known as Pie Face and officially classified as the K-42 Camera Model,[1] was a prototype airborne photo reconnaissance camera. It was manufactured for the United States Air Force by Boston University in 1951[2] and was tested on the Convair B-36 and the C-97 Stratofreighter. The model carried on the first ERB-36D (44-92088),[3] had a 6,096-millimetre (240.0 in) focal length, which was achieved using a series of lenses and mirrors. The lens had an f/8 stop and used a 1/400 second shutter speed. It could photograph a golf ball from an altitude of 45,000 feet (14,000 m). The camera used 18-by-36-inch (46 by 91 cm) negatives. The camera was installed aboard Boeing C-97A 49-2592 installation and serial number citation needed[citation needed](not an "RC-97" or "EC-97" as often widely quoted) which was used operationally by the 7405th Support Squadron based at Wiesbaden, West Germany, between 1952 and 1962. It was given to the Air Force Museum in 1964, along with a contact print of a golf ball on a course.
In the words of CIA historian Dino Brugioni:
The lens was designed in 1947 by Dr. James Baker for installation in a camera designed by the Boston University Optical Research Laboratory. The camera weighed about three tons, and eight hundred pounds of lead shot were required to balance it. Supposedly, it was first installed and test-flown in an RB-36, then installed as a left-looking oblique camera in an RC-97. The first photo which Arthur Lundahl and I observed from this project was of New York City. The aircraft was seventy-two miles away, and yet we could see people in Central Park.[1]
The Boston Camera was plagued with problems that caused it to vibrate and produce smearing on the newspaper-sized negative, so that photo interpreters would see several smeared frames along with several clear ones.[4] It is currently displayed at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.
From the display placard:
This camera, manufactured for the US Air Force by Boston University in 1951, is the largest aerial camera ever built. It was installed in an RB-36D in 1954 and tested for about a year. Later it was used in a C-97 aircraft flying along the air corridor through communist East Germany to Berlin, but a 10,000 ft. (3,000 m) altitude restriction imposed by the communists made the camera less useful than at a higher altitude. It was also used on reconnaissance missions along the borders of Eastern European nations. The camera made an 18 x 36 inch negative and was so powerful a photo interpreter could detect a golf ball from an altitude of 45,000 feet (14,000 m). Dr. James Baker of Harvard University designed the camera.
Technical Notes:
Shutter Speed: 1/400 sec
Weight: 6,500 lbs (3 metric ton) (camera and aircraft mount)
^ abBrugioni, Dino A (2010). Eyes in the Sky. Eisenhower, the CIA and Cold War Aerial Espionage. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-612-51014-9.
^"B-36 Reconnaissance Aircraft and Camera". Fact Sheets. National Museum of the Air Force. Archived from the original on 2007-07-02. Retrieved 2008-03-04.
^
Baugher, Joseph F. "1944 USAAF Serial Numbers (44-83886 to 44-92098)". Encyclopedia of American Aircraft. Joseph F. Baugher. Archived from the original on 2009-01-07. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
^Chiba, Milan A. "Make It as Big as You Can", Hycon Company, cleared for open publication May 12, 1970, Directorate of Security, Department of Defense
The BostonCamera, also known as Pie Face and officially classified as the K-42 Camera Model, was a prototype airborne photo reconnaissance camera. It...
The camera. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-8212-1092-5. Roger Hicks (1984). A History of the 35 mm Still Camera. Focal Press, London & Boston. p. 137...
The BostonCamera Club is an amateur photographic organization in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1881, it offers activities of interest to amateur photographers...
The history of the camera began even before the introduction of photography. Cameras evolved from the camera obscura through many generations of photographic...
The Boston Marathon bombing, sometimes referred to as just simply the Boston bombing, was an Islamist domestic terrorist attack that took place during...
Man with a Movie Camera (Russian: Человек с киноаппаратом, romanized: Chelovek s kinoapparatom) is an experimental 1929 Soviet silent documentary film...
"Somewhere in My Heart" is a song by Scottish band Aztec Camera. It was released as the third single from their third studio album, Love (1987). The song...
of the pre-World War I BostonCamera Club. Pilcher's earliest photographs seem to have been taken around 1881–2 in the Boston and Grantham area, and in...
Boston Public is an American drama television series created by David E. Kelley and broadcast on Fox. Set in Boston, the series centers on Winslow High...
Aztec Camera were a Scottish pop/new wave band founded by Roddy Frame, the group's singer, songwriter and only consistent member. Established in 1980,...
35mm film cameras in the 1960s, and subsequently, by digital cameras. The quintessential press camera was the Speed Graphic. Press cameras are still used...
A camera lens (also known as photographic lens or photographic objective) is an optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body...
photography and the related cameras and equipment that use film. Nowadays, the term applies to film and digital cameras that record images on media larger...
of Light. Boston: New York Graphic Society. ISBN 978-0-8212-0750-5. Most of Adams' best known images were taken with 8x10 and 4x5 view cameras. He also...
salons. She joined the BostonCamera Club in 1892, and her beautiful portraits and still lifes attracted the attention of fellow Boston photographer F. Holland...
photography, exposure value (EV) is a number that represents a combination of a camera's shutter speed and f-number, such that all combinations that yield the same...
Keystone Camera Company was an American manufacturer of consumer photographic equipment that began in 1919 in Boston. Notable products were Movie cameras, 126...
A view camera is a large-format camera in which the lens forms an inverted image on a ground-glass screen directly at the film plane. The image is viewed...
candidates were named and a platform approved. The party's ticket, featuring Bostoncamera manufacturer Simon Wing and New York electrician Charles H. Matchett...
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect...
Motor Group. The robot is based on the existing Boston Dynamics robot Spot. Its integrated thermal camera and 3D LiDAR system help detect nearby people...
Corporation was an American company best known for its instant film and cameras, which now survives as a brand for consumer electronics. The company was...
Global Information