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Interesting read : U2 spy plane ends using film camera (!)

Raphael

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Hi all,

Sorry if that emerged somewhere else on Photrio, or if this forums isn't suited to this subject (@admins : please move it accordingly if needed) , but I stumbled onto this very interesting and complet earticle about the demise of the last film camera onto U2 spy plane. To my surprise, as I thought it was already done long ago !


The U-2 Dragon Lady Finally Says Goodbye To Film Cameras At Beale AFB

The U-2's highest resolution camera took its last flight from Beale, also ended film processing there, which one tech calls "a tragedy."
www.thedrive.com

Regards,

Raphael
 

I can see the advantage in having these files quickly and in a format that can be distributed easily to several locations; not really a surprise
 
An interesting find.

In the late seventies-early eighties the UK magazine Amateur Photographer had a brief mention of a new technical black and white film released on the market by Kodak.
It mentioned the phenomenal resolution it was capable of recording.
The author also threw in for good measure that no lens available to the public at that time was capable of yielding such results, and he wondered just what it was that the military had, that was capable of using such a film to it's best potential.

Could this be the camera ?
 
Current air surveillance and recording is the reason we have something like Aviphot.
 
Alan Edward Klein said:
I imagine they kept using film so long because it was better than digital. The King is dead. Long live the King.
Click to expand...

Higher resolution certainly. And when time is not of the essence, quality is king.
 
That's the military for you. Remove a high resolution camera from a spy plane and replace it w/ one that's probably lower quality. I'm sure it probably cost the taxpayers a fortune too.

One would think that unmanned drones would be the best use for digital.
 
Interesting read. I was unaware that the U-2 is still in active Air Force use. I have seen the U-2 in rapid ascent on many occasions from Moffet Field in Mt. View CA, where NASA has operations, but that was about 3 decades ago.
The article about U-2 film camera prompted me to read about the SR-71, and it was enlightening to read it has been out of service for over 2 decades!

Wow...a 10500' long roll of film, 6' long single frame! Can you imagine the spools for that?! And how many equivalent 8x10 for amount of needed developer per roll?!
 
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Did everyone miss the constant repeating of "At Beale"?

Seems to me that they're still going to use it, but the main training facility will not have the capability to use and process it on a daily basis.

I may be wrong, but I don't think the film and the camera have been retired. Deemphasized, maybe, likely on the path to retirement, but I'm guessing they're still using film in operational theaters. Especially if they are saying "We can pull one off the shelf" like in this article. If you want to use film, you have to use enough film for Kodak to keep producing it for you. Film like this isn't something where you can just snap your fingers and get it on a moment's notice if an emergency comes up.

That said, it's kind of fun that Matt mentioned they were still using film just a couple weeks ago, something I hadn't realized, and now this article comes up. Don't think about something for a decade or two and all of the sudden you see it a bunch.
 
Moose22 said:
Did everyone miss the constant repeating of "At Beale"?
Click to expand...

If you ask where U-2 are based, the reply is
"U-2s are home based at the 9th Reconnaissance Wing, Beale Air Force Base, California, but are rotated to operational detachments worldwide. U-2 pilots are trained at Beale using five two-seat aircraft designated as TU-2S before deploying for operational missions."​
​
IOW that is their home, except for when they are TDY to another location. About Beale

"On October 15, 1964, the Department of Defense announced that Beale would be the home of the new, supersonic reconnaissance aircraft, the SR-71 "Blackbird." The 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing activated on January 1, 1965. The new wing received its first aircraft, a T-38 Talon, on July 8, 1965. The first SR-71 did not arrive until January 7, 1966.​
​
"On June 25, 1966, the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, that began as the 9th Observation Group in 1922 and its 1st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron activated as the 1st Aero Squadron in 1913, replaced the 4200th. The first U-2 arrived from Davis Monthan on July 12, 1976. Until January 26, 1990, when budget restrictions forced the retirement of the SR-71, Beale AFB was the home of two of the world's most unique aircraft.​
​
I" In 2001, the 12 th Reconnaissance Squadron activated at Beale as the parent organization for the GLOBAL HAWK, the Air Force's newest high-altitude reconnaissance platform.​
​
"Today, Beale AFB is home for the U-2 Dragon Lady, T-38 Talon and RQ-4 Global Hawk. The base, covering nearly 23,000 acres, is home to more than 4,500 military personnel. Beale AFB has an unique name and mission, a historic past, and a promising future."​

IOW Beale is the home of reconnaisance aircraft in general, including the drones.
 
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I've been waiting for some 5" long roll film to show up on Ebay ;~')) My grandad was Kelley Johnson's radar black box guy. I still have his skunk works U2 coffee cup with his name on it in dymo tape.
 
For decades the US has used film as the recording medium for reconnaissance of "denied territory". The attached web link reports that film will no longer be used in the famed U-2. The best known U-2 pilot was Francis Gary Power who was shot down over the USSR in 1960.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/b...0nmSa1uPejx9mbjdyRY5hBSWy919dk5Y68n8f5YVzGOaY

For many decades Eastman Kodak Company made the film and processed the film that was flown in fixed wing and orbiting reconnaissance craft. Kodak also built and operated Gambit (Keyhole) film-return satellites. One of these units is on display at the Rochester Museum and Science Center in Rochester NY. This work was all done as a covert operation in order to protect the project details. Some of the project was declassified in 2011.


Bob
www.makingKODAKfilm.com
 
I did not realize the U-2 was flown anymore on any type of regular basis.
I think they would be MILES ahead if they simply kept using film...............and sold the U-2 for scrap .
 
laser said:
...For many decades Eastman Kodak Company made the film and processed the film that was flown in fixed wing and orbiting reconnaissance craft...
Click to expand...

The article you linked to stated that

"...last flight from the base also effectively ended wet film processing at the 9th Reconnaissance Wing..."

Do you know (or can you say) whether Kodak was still an on-site contractor at Beale doing the processing or had that site established its own organic USAF film lab capability?

CMoore said:
...I think they would be MILES ahead if they simply kept using film....
Click to expand...

Miles ahead of what/whom?
 
I thought that Powers being shot down was kinda the point of the SR-71 since the U-2 was no longer untouchable by Soviet SAMs. Of course the SR-71 is no longer (officially) in service anymore, but I would have thought the U-2's mission would have been taken over by drones a long time ago. I wonder what size and density the CCD it that replaced the film in the U-2 cameras are?
 
The U2 has outlasted the SR 71 by 2 decades, it is still flown by the Air Force and used by NASA for high altitude research. The US flies on the edge of hostile space, over low intensity battle fields. In addition to images the U2 also collects single intelligence. I was surprised that the U2 was using film, would have thought by now was using all digital sensors.
 
Threads combined
 

Very sophisticated aerial film processing labs for fixed wing and satellite films were located at both Kodak's Hawk-Eye Works and Kodak's Lincoln Plant in Rochester NY. The labs operated from the late 1950's until the late 1990's.
 
In more recent times a contractor at Beale posted film processing jobs, as part of broader services that they provided.
 
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In the recent past, last 10 years, both NASA and the DOD archived digital files on film, then I read that the DOD was using cloud storage to archive, not sure what other uses the Air Force would have for film.
 
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