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

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Sec, et NOF0RN
Chapter 6
The Hycon entry. designed by James Baker and known as the
Type-IV camera, was a spotting camera with extremely-high-ground
resolution. In fact, it was an advanced version of the highly reliable
B camera developed for the original U-2 program. It used a 48-inch
Baker-designed f/5.6 lens to focus images onto 9.5-inch tilm. Like the
B camera it could provide seven frames of photography covering a
swath 41 miles wide with stereo overlap on 19 miles of the swath.
The Hycon camera carried the largest film supply of the three
cameras, 12,000 feet. It was able to resolve 100 lines per millimeter
and provide a ground resolution of 8 inches. A version of this 48-inch
Hycon camera. known as the H camera, later saw service in u-2R air­
craft.
Each of the three camera systems had unique capabilities and
advantages, so all three were purchased for the OXCART. Before
they could be effectively employed in the aircraft, however, new
types of camera windows were needed. The OXCART's camera win­
dows had to be completely free from optical distortion. Achieving
this goal was difficult in a window whose exterior would be sub­
jected to temperatures of 550"F whik the interior surface would be
only IscrF. After three years and the expenditure of 52 million in re­
search and development, the Corning Glass Works, which had joined
this effort as a Perkin-Elmer subcontractor, solved the problem of
producing a camera window that could withstand tremendous heat
differentials. Its quartz glass window was fused to the metal frame
by an unprecedented process involving high-frequency sound
~.
waves.
Later in the program, the OXCART received yet another camera
system. In 1964 the Texas Instruments Corporation developed an in­
frared camera for Project TACKLE U-2s that were being used to de­
termine whether the People's Republic of China was producing
weapons-grade nuclear material. This stereo device, known as the
FFD-4. was adapted for use in OXCART. The camera had an effective
focal length of 50 inches and a 150-foot supply of 3.5-inch film. The
camera's resolution was 3°C thermally, I milliradian spatially. and 60
feet on the ground. It could be used for both day and night imagery
collection.
'' Baker intcrvicw (S); Minnich. "OXCART Stury." pp. 5-o ISl.
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