The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance; The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974

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~.,et NOFORP4
Chapter 3
facilities available, and the film had to be flown to Wiesbaden, adding
a 10- to 15-hour delay. During the gradual buildup of the crisis, this
delay had been tolerated, but, once actual hostilities broke out, US
decisionmakers needed a more rapid response. On 29 October,
Richard Bissell ordered Lundahl to establish a film-processing facility
at Adana. Two PlD employees went to Adana on 13 November to set
up the facility, and two photointerpreters moved from Wiesbaden to
Adana to help in the effort. Forward processing was, however, ham­
pered by the location of the Adana facility on a tlat, arid plain in
southern Turkey, 35 miles from the Mediterranean at the very end of a
long supply line.
The PID team obtained and outfitted a trailer for film processing,
but many problems had to be overcome. The first major problem was
obtaining enough clean water. Detachment B personnel, therefore,
purchased large amounts of borax locally for use in purifying water.
In fact, they bought so much borax on the local market that one of
them was arrested by the Turkish police. who believed he was using
the chemical to make drugs. It was also difficult to obtain a constant
source of developers and fixers for processing the U-2 film, si nce the
large Air Force supply facility at Wheelus AFB in Libya refused to
provide the needed photographic chemicals. When PIO personnel ac­
companied processed film from Turkey to the United States, they re­
turned to Turkey sitting atop cartons of chemicals for the next day's
processing. At first, film was developed in improvised tanks using
flimsy wooden spools and hand-turned cranks to move the film
through the solutions. Later, the Adana facility moved from its trailer
to a building and received more up-to-date processing equipment. As
was the case with the photo lab in Germany, the Adana lab's person­
nel came from the Agency and the armed forces.
57
The need to produce very timely intelligence diminished after
the British and French agreed to a cease-fire on 7 November 1956. By
the end of the month, foreign troops began evacuating Egyptian terri­
tory, and the pressure on the Adana photointerpretation unit eased.
The facility remained in existence, however, and was used twice in
December 1956 and 11 times in the first half of 1957. It was then
placed in caretaker status, for emergency use only.
" NP/C History. vol. I. pp. 53-54 (S): Lun<hhl ~nd Brugioni interview (TS Codeword).
Geeret