American Cinematographer - September 1968 - 30

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at 28 feet a minute. This was entirely
too slow for the amount of film that
began to be generated daily.
Consequently, the Air Force shifted
to a faster film and equipped its new
trailer units with the Houston Fearless
ME-4 type color processors. These, the
colonel reported, process film at 75
feet a minute.
"As for quality, we say we're match¬
ing industry standards. You can see it
in the films. What's coming back is
being cut right into films made here
under optimum conditions and you sel¬
dom can tell the difference."

.... ' :'ll
%y y \

While on a flight in o U.S. Air Force C-47 aircraft near Toy Hoa, Vietnam, M/Sgt Kelly watches
as M/Sgt White uses "Heiivision," a gyro-mounted camera which eliminates the effect of
aircraft vibration during photography. This photograph was taken in 1966. Even more sophis¬
ticated mounts have since become available.

"He wanted confirmation of his
kills," Warndorf related, "and he
agreed to let me put a camera on his
plane when I told him that if he could
see a MIG we could record it on film.
"He wouldn't put up with a pod,
however, for he wanted all the per¬
formance he could get. And, we didn't
then have a blister for the Phantom.
So we had to jerry-rig the camera in
the cockpit.
"After flying it, Colonel Olds said
we could install the same kind of set¬
up for his other experienced pilots."
Later, Warndorf achieved an even
more helpful breakthrough when ano¬
ther wing commander asked to have
cameras mounted on all of the 100
planes under his command.
But the officer laid down one iron¬

660

clad stipulation: Colonel Warndorf
would have to guarantee that the films
would be returned to the wing so the
commander's pilots could view them
in a post-mission critique. Further¬
more, it would have to be done fast
enough for the men to derive some
good from the review.
Happily, the two color-processing
trailer units already set up in Vietnam
made this possible. Before, color foot¬
age was flown back to the United
States, where the Air Force could
process under ideal conditions. But
even under optimum conditions, the
old system took ten to twelve days to
get prints back to the war theater.
The Air Force set up its first field
color-processing trailer unit in Viet¬
nam in 1964. The unit was operated

For the most part in Vietnam, the
Air Force relies on Ektachrome MS
Film, which has an ASA rating of 64.
EF is used in the early morning or late
evening or when cameramen know
the weather conditions will be so bad
that the higher ASA rating of 160 will
be necessary. (Ektachrome Commer¬
cial Film is also used in the theater,
but only for ground filming and, since
there is no extreme priority on time, it
is returned to the states for develop¬
ing and printing.)
Processing color film in the tropical
climate of Vietnam, with its high heat,
humidity and monsoon seasons, poses
many problems, Warndorf related. He
cited in particular, the unavailability
of water and the need to purify it, as
well as the difficulty in storing and
transporting film.
The five trailer processing com¬
plexes consist of four air-conditioned
units 50 feet long and 12 feet wide,
mounted on six-inch-thick pads of steel
reinforced concrete. They have 30
KW generators to supply power, fil¬
ters to purify water and chilling
equipment to cool it to the 92 degrees
Fahrenheit required for the ME-4
process.
Each of the complexes has two of
the Houston Fearless Labmaster units.
But, as Warndorf explained, there
are many times when labs keep one
machine running by cannibalizing
parts off the other.
Other trailer complexes also pro¬
vide facilities for editorial work, pro¬
jecting completed films and camera
maintenance, scripting and all other
functions associated with field pho¬
tography.
Regarding the last, Warndorf said
it was first planned to centralize all
such work in one location with the
thought that this would be more effi¬
cient. But logistics, he explained, as
well as the need to get cameras back

AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, SEPTEMBER 1968

American Cinematographer - September 1968

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