The Mitchell KF8 is a 35mm aircraft reconnaissance camera built for the United States Navy in the 1950s. The camera body is based on the design of the Mitchell GC/Standard but adapted to capture high speed reconnaissance motion pictures from the nose cone of an aircraft.
The viewfinder and L-base were omitted from the design, and, in order to achieve a lower overall profile, a set of coaxial magazines was designed to sit behind the camera. The lenses were encapsulated in a special housing that helped prevent freezing and fogging, and allowed the pilot to remotely control the aperture and focus.
The motors were specially designed to work at aircraft voltages and to run the camera up to 120 frames per second. These cameras were used in the mid to late 1950s in the specially modified Grumman F9F-8P Photo Cougar reconnaissance aircraft. Grumman delivered 110 of these specially modified Photo Cougar fighter jets between 1955 and 1957.
The modified nose section of the jet was divided into three camera bays to house a variety of photographic instrumentation, including the KF-8. The compartment was insulated to protect the equipment from temperature extremes, and featured a camera vacuum system, a viewfinder dehydration system, and the necessary systems to support all of this equipment.
Records indicate that these planes were in service between 1955 and the early 1960s. A few examples are on display at aviation museums in California, Arizona, and Ohio. Research on the Mitchell KF-8 has proven quite difficult. If any of you camera or aircraft enthusiasts out there have more information about this interesting camera, we would love to hear from you!
