U-2 Spy Planes At Beale AFB Finally Say Goodbye To Film Cameras
The U-2’s highest resolution camera took its last flight from Beale, also ended film processing there, which one tech calls “a tragedy.”
BY EMMA HELFRICH, TYLER ROGOWAY
JUL 1, 2022 2:58 PM
hen was the last time you got your camera's film developed at a 1-hour photo? You can't remember, can you? Neither can we! Well, the folks at Beale Air Force Base in California have continued to process large amounts of film long after the digital imaging revolution swept massive brand names like Kodak and Fuji Film to the back of the public's consciousness.
The U.S. Air Force’s 9th Reconnaissance Wing says that the U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane has flown Beale Air Force Base’s last Optical Bar Camera, or OBC, mission. In service for over half a century with the U-2, the OBC is one of the high-flying plane's oldest sensor systems. Making its exit from Beale truly marks the end of an era in more ways than one.
A Dragon Lady piloted by U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Ralph Shoukry flew the last sortie with the OBC from Beale — the home of the U-2 community — on June 24. Upon its return to the base, technicians ceremoniously lowered the sensor out of the jet one final time. Because the OBC is a wet film camera, its last flight from the base also effectively ended wet film processing at the 9th Reconnaissance Wing. With that, Beale's U-2s have finally fully embraced the digital imaging age.
“Each roll of OBC film is 5 inches wide and 10,500 feet long with each frame of imagery measuring more than 6 feet long… With an entire roll of film, the camera can take about 1,600 frames in one mission. Each frame covers roughly 110 square nautical miles in a panoramic horizon-to-horizon format. Basically, a roll of film can shoot an area the size of Colorado… When the OBC was on the SR-71 it took a frame about every 1.7 seconds, but for the U-2 it was slowed down to one frame every 6.8 seconds… This had to be done because the difference in the cruising speeds of the aircraft could cause the imagery to blur if the timing and speed of the camera was wrong."
“All U-2 pilots will retain the knowledge and skills to employ the sensor through a variety of mission sets and operation locations to meet priority intelligence collection needs of the geographic combatant commanders as tasked,” said Lt. Col. James Gaiser, commander of the 99th Reconnaissance Squadron.
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https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/beale-air-force-base-finally-says-goodbye-to-film-for-its-u-2-spy-planes