European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 2, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 8 the stars and stripes tuesday april 2, 1945 new methods Speed Aerial film processing by Bob Hoyle is . Bureau chief upper Heyford England is the cuban missile crisis in the fall of 1962 set off a Chain reaction in the methods used to process Aerial reconnaissance film. As a result film of targets now is available in a tenth of the Tim formerly required. With the use of present equip ment it s possible to develop fix Wash and dry film in two minutes. The old process required a minimum of 20 minutes even for a Short Rollof film. Prints now Are available within 10 minutes of the time the film arrives at the lab. The cuban crisis demonstrated the need for faster processing and this has led to dramatic improve ment in equipment said 2nd it. Robert l. Hedrick officer in charge of photo processing for the 17th tactical reconnaissance so at upper Heyford air station. Indeed tactical reconnaissance squadrons throughout the air Force have benefited by the development of the new and sophisticated proc Essing equipment. Operating at maximum efficiency up to 1,000 feet of film exposed by cameras in the nose of the rf101 voodoo can be processed in 17th Squadron facilities in As Littles 12 minutes. Working hand in hand with the photo processing Section is photo interpretation which May ask the lab for blowups of specific areas of a negative. These May be enlarged As much As eight or nine times the original size. M. Sgt. Vernon l. Mcconnell the Squadron s Coic of photo proc Essing pointed out that film equip ment is air transportable a feature that contributes to fulfilment of the Mission. It s this mobility and the increased Speed of processing that character izes the new equipment. Film used in the three types of High Speed reconnaissance cameras employed by the a flows and other reconnaissance aircraft comes five Inch and nine Inch Rolls acid May run up to 500 feet in length in exposure rating and Quality it s similar to commercial As trix arid plus a. One Type camera is equipped with a shutter that can pop pictures at a maximum Speed of of a second. As Many As six pictures a Secor May be zipped off by voodoo cameras which Are capable of i canny reproductions at High Speed and High Altitude. In a word the demand for set and precision has resulted in de if Ozment of the world s most sop tic ated and reliable photo re tfx Naissance equipment. Voodoo View this enlarged Fml Erial Toto shows a target area in Britain. Force Marne units assisting meet leave plan extended to All of sea Washington is the special 30-Day leave and transportation program for service men who extend their Tours in Vietnam for another six months has been expanded to include the whole of Southeast Asia Accord ing to the army. This Means that the thousands of servicemen stationed in thai land Are now eligible for special a a army official the information did not specify countries in Southe Astasia an official added that pro visions would also include those based in Okinawa and Taiwan who come under the provisions of the defense department s re cent directive expanding the leave policy. A there is also some speculation Here that eventually the 30-Day leave program May take in some servicemen on Short tour duty in Germany Spe Cial the army is helping the air Force play a game Here and no matter who wins both serv ices will receive a tactical off. Third inf div units Are actin Gas targets in the air Force s operation Royal flush Xiii a annual reconnaissance Competition among Allied tactical recon Naissance squadrons. The Competition is a test of the Squadron s ability to support nato defense plans and serves to verify the ability of the flight units to cover a Large number of targets in a Given time and to furnish accurate and timely intelligence on those targets. The army s role in the exercise is to provide company size or larger targets for the recon aircraft to locate and photo Raph. Batteries of the 1st in 9tharty, and companies of the 10th Engineer in were picked fro the 3rd inf div to act As targets. The actual Competition will Hillbe held until May 15 and Foj this month s recon missions Only practice rounds. Because division wide commitments Jmajor training during the act Competition no Marne uni participate in the final test. When the 3rd inf div units pa.,.ticipating in the practice exer cil reached their Field posit Lipthey were required to Deal their vehicles in a tactical fashion. Competition rifles req Ili that target vehicles be Light camouflaged. Concealment a. To be Light enough to make the targets impossible to find. 1 Btry a and Btry a 1st bflj94th arty deployed near a Mergentheim scattering thei vehicles and Topping them of. With a Small amount of camouflage. Co e of the 10th eel Greer in on the other hand worked More in the open Tel unit was assigned a bridging Mission and had to expose itself at several takes accent reins by Perry Flippin staff writer Brun sum the Netherlands is West German Gen. Juergen Bennecke arrived at Al lied forces Central Europe accent Here monday to As sume command of the seven nation nato Force which forms the Allied defense from the Balti sea to the Alps. On hand to receive the new commander in chief was an Hon or guard of land air and naval forces which Bennecke will com Mand from the Netherlands Bel Gium Canada West Germany United kingdom and unite states. Luxembourg the seventh member nation had no assembled contingent representing her 400-member army. Air chief marshal sir Augustu Walker accent s Deputy com Mander in chief and a decorated Raf Pilot escorted Bennecke As he reviewed the Honor . Gen. Frans a. Palm accent chief of staff from therol Netherlands army and Usan it. Col. Russell m. Hellerjr., accent he commandant accompanied the reviewing \ following the review Beal Necke met briefly with the de Pul. To commander in chief the chill of staff and the Deputy chiefs of staff before addressing a a coif press conference. A Bennecke told the assemble reporters that his former sigment As commanding Geil eral of West Germany s i corps had introduced him to some of the problems concerned in tit defense of Central Europe Giitl he declined to make any until he has Coin plated thorough studies and at the accent level previous duties Bennecke succeeds West German Gen. Johann Adolf Graf von Kielman Segg who retired ceremonies Here last Friday. Prior to his assignment As is corps commander Benne Ctol was commander of the bundles Wehr staff College in Hamburg in 1952, he served at the Blan office the precursor of the fed l eral defense ministry. He joined the Reichs Wehr in 1930, was commissioned three years later awl served on three fronts during world Wai ii
