"Boston Camera" This camera, manufactured for the U.S. Air Force by Boston University in 1951, is the largest aerial camera ever built. Initially, it was installed in an RB-36D. Later it was used in a C-97 aircraft flying along the air corridor through communist East Germany to Berlin, but a 10,000-foot altitude restriction imposed by the communists made the camera less useful than at a higher altitude. It was also used on reconnaissance missions along the borders of Eastern European nations. The camera made an 18-by-36-inch negative and was so powerful that a photo interpreter could detect a golf ball from an altitude of 45,000 feet. Dr. James Baker of Harvard University designed the camera. Click here to return to the Cold War Gallery.