3, Perform an educational function by:
a, Promoting the wise use of aerial photographs as
teaching aids and as research tools.
b. Promoting research programs related to the use of
aerial photography. (The committee should strive to
maintain a list of research projects which will add
to the general and specific knowledge in this area,
and which students and staff members might logically
undertake.)
The need for small amounts of aerial photography taken of specific
targets, on fairly specific dates, and under specific circumstances seemed
to dictate that the University own and operate its own photographic aircraft.
Investigation of this possibility showed that the University Institute of
Aviation already owned a North American AT-6 aircraft (U. S, Navy designa-
tion - SNJ) configured for vertical aerial photography. The investigation
also located two F=56 aerial cameras. Acquisition of a camera mount suitable
for installing the F-56 camera in the AT=6 aircraft permitted an exploratory
trial of the equipment. Results of the trials were favorable.
Since the Institute of Aviation maintains several salaried pilots in
operating an internal air-charter service to facilitate University activities,
and since the AT-6 aircraft was being maintained as required for licensing by
the Civil Aeronautics Administration, stand-by costs normally associated with
commercial aerial photography were largely eliminated. Acquisition of roll
film processing equipment for the University Photographic Laboratory was
accomplished at nominal cost and a surplus, military K-17B camera was. pur-
chased to provide a negative format for teaching purposes which was similar
to most commercial aerial photography and to permit greater flexibility in
focal length and altitude combinations. Recent acquisition of a Saltzman
aerial enlarger (Model 30WAA), Zeiss auto-focus rectifiers (Models SEG-II and
SEG-IV), and a second order stereoplotter (Nistri Photocartograph V) have
further increased the capabilities of the University.
As the Committee on Aerial Photography. filled requests for aerial photo-
graphs originated by University departments, a significant accumulation of
aerial negatives developed. The potential usefulness of these negatives to
other colleges and universities, particularly in Illinois, was recognized
from the outset. This, and the gradual accumulation of negatives from other
agencies on a loan basis, led directly to the establishment and announcement
of the University of Illinois Air Photo Repository.
Each agency depositing negatives in the repository is assigned a code
symbol consisting of two letters. Rolls of negatives deposited are given a
repository serial number consisting of the two-letter code of the depositing
agency and a three-digit roll number. Negatives are cross-referenced by
location of photography and, to some extent, by specific features of interest.
Photography in the repository on June 1, 1960, ranged in scale from 1:1,500
to 1:52,500 and included some coverage of 10 states in the United States, the
District of Columbia, and one unidentified island in the South Pacific Ocean.
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