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

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Realizing that the 240-inch lens was both too large and too
heavy for the camera bay, Baker scaled the lens down to a 200-inch
f/16. 0 system. This was still too big. Further reductions followed, re­
sulting by July 1955 in a 120-inch fl 10.9 lens that met both the weight
and space limitations. Later in the year, Baker decided to make the
mirrors for the system out of a new, lightweight foamed silica mate­
rial developed by Pittsburgh-Coming Glass Company. This reduced
the weight significantly, and he was able to scale up the lens to a
180-inch f/13.85 reflective system for a 13- by 13-inch format. In the
past, the calculations for such a complex camera lens would have
taken years to complete, but thanks to Baker's ray-tracing computer
program, he was able to accomplish the task in just 16 days.
When a C camera built by Hycon was flight-tested on 31 January
l 957, project engineers discovered that its 180-inch focal length,
which was five times longer than that of the B camera, made the
camera very sensitive to aircraft vibration and led to great difficulty
in aiming the C camera from altitudes above 68,000 feet. The engi­
neers, therefore, decided to shelve the camera. More than five years
later, a redesigned C camera was employed during the Cuban Missile
Crisis in 0ctober 1962, but the results were not very satisfactory.
The failure of the C camera design was not a serious setback to
the high-altitude reconnaissance program, because the B camera
proved highly successful. Once initial difficulties with the film-trans­
port system were overcome, the B camera became the workhorse of
high-altitude photography. An improved version known as the B-2 is
still in use. Both of the earlier A-model cameras were phased out after
September 1958.
During the period when he was designing lenses for the CIA's
overhead reconnaissance program, James Baker was also working on
classified lens designs for the Air Force and unclassified designs for
the Smithsonian Institution. To protect the security of Baker's work
for the Agency, Herbert Miller of the Development Projects Staff told
Baker to work on lenses for the U-2 in the open and not make any
effort to classify the documents connected with the project. Miller be­
lieved that by not calling attention to the effort through the use of spe­
cial security measures, the project could be completed faster and still
not be compromised. This "hiding in the open" strategy proved very
successful?
" Ibid.
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Chapter 2
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