I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT LIKE TO HAVE AN INFORMAL REPORT ON MY RECENT TRIP WEST.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP89B00487R000300640035-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 10, 2011
• Sequence Number: 35
• Publication Date: May 23, 1955
• Content Type: LETTER

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saw u)z
Cy l of 1
May 23, 1955 25X1
I thought you might like to have an informal report on i' recent trip West.
A. Trip to Icon - General
I mist admit I was very favorably impressed by all aspects of the job which is
being carried on at Plant 9. I had a bit more time this trip than previous ones
and so dug quite deeply into the layouts and detailed drawings of their job. I
feel that they have come directly to grips with the real problems and are not Just
skirting around the edges. Many of these problems have been solved in what looks
to me like a workmanlike way and while there remain some that are yet to be brought
under control, these are well recognized and manpower is being pat to work on them.
There are manor pieces of hardware being worked on as well as much detailed drafting
completed. All in all, it looks like a going operation.
I tried to arrive at an independent estimate as to how their schedule looks, and
it is mr opinion that we are about two weeks late on the very first items but that
the schedule for the later items is still okay. They were aware of this shortage
and were making strong efforts in the way of additional manpower both at high
levels as well as in the ranks to make up the deficit. We talked to B!i a bit on
this subject and he pointed out that the original schedule between the photographic
equipment and the aircraft had some elasticity and so he wasn't worried. It is
one point, however, which I will continue to give close attention to. whom 25X1
you have met and who is their chief engineer, has been recently freed-up give
at least half his time to this specific project and he is taking as his primary
task to make up this two weeks.
B. Specific Problems
B1. Film: At Bsrcon we talked a bit about the impact of the discussion at
Rochester on the program. It was their unanimous opinion that any attempt to
perforate this thin film would only lead to disaster. The stock is sufficiently
on the borderline as far as pbysical strength is concerned as it is and any holes
would be a fruitful source of tears and other breakdowns. They did feel, however,
that the general problem of marking the film could be attacked and will go ahead
on study of this approach with fall steam. I understand that FT has postponed his
trip to Europe and I plan to get in touch with him immediately to profit by his
experience in this field, which I understand is wide. A tentative program would
be to mark the film with consecutive numbers at one foot intervals so that there
could never be any question of the order of the exposures. This would be done
by the film manufacturer. We would then put a mark on the film while it was in
the camera to indicate the location of the separation between pictures, and an
additional mark at the and of each sequence, burst or interruption in the operation.
These marks would be of such a nature as to be readable with infrared light or
electrical contact before development. I have initiated a request, copy of which
is enclosed, with Hycon for this new additional work. They understand the urgency
but it will probably turn out that the very first units delivered will not be
equipped with this device simply because of the lack of time. Before actual
operations proceed, however, we should have the equipment and gain this experience
with it. The reels for B & C have been decided upon and the enclosed sketch shone
the standard air ngsment.
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B2. Configuration A. As indicated above, the progress looks very good. It
has been helped along considerably by Hri for his group has aided in the structure
analysis for the mounts. There is now no doubt in nay mind that this configuration
will be a satisfactorily operated one.
B3. Configuration B. I went over the layouts and design studies for this camera
and it all looks good. Coordination drawings bave passed back and forth, and I do
not believe there are any major areas yet to be settled. I did check that alternate
modes of wide or narrow strips may be selected as set on the ground before take-off-
B4. Configuration C. The principle problem here is one of vibration. I have
reference to the long period oscillation of the aircraft itself in roll, pitch and
yaw. High frequency vibrations are well under control. Our original simple concept
of mounting the mass at center of gravity and letting the aircraft oscillate about
the mass has gradually gone by the board. This concept appeared practical at the
time when the only motion within the mass other than the film advance was that slow
and easily counterbalanced change of oblique angle. Now, however, we have intro-
duced a stereo angle and burst progranening, both of which are fast, high acceleration
in start and atop. It is felt that the dynamics problems ..of balancing out those
real active torques produced by these motions will make the center of gravity mount
quite impractical. Several alternatives were discussed. One of then, the standard
AF Torquer mount appears to offer a solution. You will remember that this camera
mount senses the angular oscillation of the mass and applies torques to the mass to
counterbalance those oscillations. The air force has spent a very large sum of
money for the development of such mounts and as yet they have not proved successful.
In addition, they would be quite impractical for our application since they are quite
heavy and rather large for weights as great as 450 lbs. The original thought of
clamping the mass until such time as the angular velocities were small and then
releasing it does not stand up to analysis for it turns out that the R M S value
of the angular velocities as reported by the aircraft people never gets down to a
low enough value to permit satisfactory exposure with this camera..
We examined in some detail the possibility of vibration release at minima in the
individual directions of roll, pitch and yaw. The idea is to clamp the mass to the
aircraft while changes were going on inside the mass and then release the mass in
roll at the instant of minimum angular velocity, and then in pitch at the instant of
miniaua angular velocity, and then in yaw at its .1 ni*r angular velocity. This
procedure would give a very stable mass but nns*tisfactory at the periods of os-
cillation with which we are faced. This process would take some twelve seconds on
the average. For coverage we must take exposures at intervals of the order of two
seconds. I plan to ask Ed Purcell for his suggestions and advice in this general
area.
One other point came up on Configuration C. The original layout shows the stereo
axis as rotating with the mirror. While this might be arrlaged in such a way as to
maintain the stereo angle independent of the oblique angle, it would call for an
extremely complex programmer for the interval between stereo pairs would then
depend on the oblique angle. We decided that a proper compromise would be to
maintain the stereo axis horizontal and thus as the oblique angle increases the
effective stereo angle decreases. Relationship is S. So Ooeo. where S is the
true stereo angle So is the angle at the Nadir and o(, is the oblique angle.
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-3-
When I saw you last I gave you a proposal on ground handling equipment and, operations.
You indicated a desire to make some revisions in our approach and I would very such
appreciate an indication of your thoughts on this matter. I have received a definitive
quotation from W con based on this approach but I would certainly like to revise it
so as to agree with the one which you desire before submitting this quotation.
I spent some time discussing what was desired by your people. in the way of technical
support. It was our feeling from those discussions which and I had attended 25X1
that you wished considerably more that what normally falls under the manufacturers
Tech. Rep. activity. I have a proposal for Tech Support but before submission of
this proposal I would like to have a clearer idea of Just what you wish. The questions
which are open in my mind involve such things as operational responsibility, engineering
at the operational base,, at depots and at the manufacturer's plant. The degree of
training to be given to technical support personnel; are they to be capable of doing
all jobs associated with operations; are they to be capable of teaching others to do
these jobs, and are certain of our employees to be trained to assume responsibility
for operations not only in the true technical some but in planning, management, etc.
The basic question here, of course is what is the role of the corporation whose
employees are utilized for Tech Support.
EM AND THE VBCHICLE
In the interim since my last visit, the test pilots and others have arrived at a
clear cut desire as to the operation of the periscope. This involves first a -
reversal of the direction of the hand control. I would like to have you try this
one out on Os in order to obtain his reaction. The requirement now is that as you
pull the hand control towards you this should move the line of sight ahead, and
thus bring into view the same area that would be brought into view though a hole
in the bottom if you had pulled the stgck towards you and thus lifted the nose of
the aircraft. In the same way positioning the control to the left is equivalent
to dipping the left wing and thus the line of sight would go out to the right. I
tried this self in mock-up and I am inclined to agree that. this is the natural
direction for anyone with flight e*perience. A request for a certain mechanism
permitting the direct reading of dmift angle and ground support was made and it
appears that these can be incorporated right on the panel. Some redesign of the
hand control mechanism. will be required but I have not had a chance to determine
what effect this will have on the kb.IAO
We worked out a satisfactory mechanism for mounting the periscope in the aircraft
and permitting its easy insertion and removal. I believe now that what looked like
a very nasty Job involving considerable structural difficulty can be handled quite
simply. EM has been more than helpful in every way in making available all of the
facilities at his disposal and they have been considerable.
I hope I have not bored you with all of these details but I thought you would like
to be brought up to date as to where we stand in as marq individual matters as is
practical. Within a few days I will try to get another letter off to you covering
the work at Peco.
Best personal regards.
P.S. I was not aware of your deep interest in the movies but I will bet as editor
of the Exhibitor for 20 years it turned out to be a pretty good thing since this is
a well-heeled industr3r.
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peel Loa:di1t,
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