Approved for Release: 2013/06/25
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Secret NOFORN
Chapter 2
52
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A-2 camera
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[figure]
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U-2s equipped with the A-1 camera system also carried a Perkin-Elmer tracking camera using 2.75-inch film and a 3-inch lens. This device made continuous horizon-to-horizon photographs of the terrain passing beneath the aircraft. Because the A-1 system was new, it also included a backup camera system, a K-17 6-inch three-camera trimetrogon unit using 9-inch film.
While the A-1 system was still being developed, James Baker was already working on the next generation of lenses for high-altitude reconnaissance. Baker was a pioneer in using computers to synthesize optical systems. His software algorithms made it possible to model lens designs and determine in advance the effects that variations in lens curvatures, glass compounds, and lens spacings would have on rays of light passing through a lens. These “ray-tracing” programs required extensive computations, and, for this he turned to the most modern computer available, an IBM CPC (card-programmed calculator) installation at nearby Boston University.¹⁷
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¹⁷ Ibid., chap. 1, pp. 7-8 (TS Codeword).
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Secret
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Approved for Release: 2013/06/25