Aerial camera
As aerial cameras large special cameras are photogrammetry referred to those from survey aircraft is detected the site photographically and evaluated to maps or plans. As a rule, contiguous, overlapping strips of terrain are recorded on precisely manufactured photo plates or - more frequently today - on special films.
The cameras have a control device for aligning and covering the photos and an automatic shutter . The focal lengths - depending on the purpose - are between about 15 and 50 cm, the light intensity is 1: 2 to 1: 5, the field of view is about 20 × 20 cm.
At an altitude of 2,000 to 5,000 m above ground, the analysis of the recordings with stereo comparators can achieve accuracy of a few centimeters. Recordings in false color mode and on digital image carriers are also possible.
One of the pioneers in the development of aerial cameras was the American Talbert Abrams .
The best-known manufacturers in Europe are Wild Heerbrugg (today Leica Geosystems ) in Switzerland and Zeiss in southern Germany.
The largest camera installed in an airplane to date was the "Boston Camera" designed by James Baker at Harvard University in 1951 and built by Boston University . The 2950 kg camera flew only in a 1954 converted Convair RB-36D (USAF serial number 44-92088). In 1955 it was expanded again to be installed in a Convair XC-99 ; before finally being handed over to the USAF Museum in 1964. The focal length of the camera is 6096 mm and the negative format has the dimensions 18 × 36 inches (45.7 × 91.4 cm). Allegedly it was possible to take pictures of a golf ball from a height of over 13,000 m. At this height the camera was covered with an electric blanket.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Bill Yenne: Convair B-36 Peacemaker (Warplane Classic) . In: International Air Power Review, Volume 13, 2004, p. 128