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WWII AAF K-20 Aerial Aircraft Camera


Manchu Warrior
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Manchu Warrior

I found this camera at an auction many years ago and it has been in the bottom of my closet for about as long as I have owned it. It is an Army Air Force K20 Aerial Aircraft Camera and it is very clean. What is interesting is that there where a pack of about 80 photos that came with it. Unfortunately the photos only have numbers on them and therefore I have no idea where that had been taken. From what I have read this camera it was supposedly a lightweight camera. In my opinion someone lied about that because it is pretty heavy.

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ViewfinderGyrene

Beautiful example! Would love to know where the photos were taken! I'm suer somebody on here might know of a data base or collection of recon photographs that you could consult for comparison, great find!

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Very nice. I've toyed with the idea of buying one of these in the past but have wondered what I would do with it. Most likely, due to the weight and size, mine would end up at the bottom of a closet like yours.:)

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Manchu Warrior

 

This may be a stretch, but judging by the geometric "boundries" of the farmland and streets, I would guess this is in the U.S..

 

 

I appreciate the info and I am going to take a better look at the photos and see if there is anything that stands out that someone may be able to ID. Thanks!

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Manchu Warrior

Beautiful example! Would love to know where the photos were taken! I'm suer somebody on here might know of a data base or collection of recon photographs that you could consult for comparison, great find!

 

Thanks!

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Oh yessssssssss ! Now I'm liking that !

Wasn't the K20 the standard aerial photography camera for the USAAF?

 

LB

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Very cool camera!

 

The term "lightweight" must bet taken in the context of the 1940s and aerial photography cameras in general. This was actually a fairly small unit that could be handheld, whereas other cameras utilizing much larger negative sizes were a LOT bigger/heavier. Even the standard press camera of the day, the 4X5 Speed Graphic and other similar cameras, are extremely heavy by today's standards.

 

The K-20 is actually fairly simple, with a neat forward/backward twisting mechanism for advancing the film and cocking the shutter. I'm sure you're example could be used if shooting 4X5 roll film was still feasible.

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doinworkinvans

going back and looking at MACR's - i see that alot of camera's are listed. And that the K20 is actually one of the fewer thats listed. I see alot of K17s......

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ViewfinderGyrene

Most of the time they are...not always.

 

All of the times I looked at the MACRs of downed A/Cs and I never noticed a camera # being lsited if there was a photog on board. That's amazing! Wouldn't it be incredible on here if somebody found one and traced it to a 30-50 mission crew?! :o

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All of the times I looked at the MACRs of downed A/Cs and I never noticed a camera # being lsited if there was a photog on board. That's amazing! Wouldn't it be incredible on here if somebody found one and traced it to a 30-50 mission crew?! :o

 

Whoaa that would be some find !!! :o

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Manchu Warrior

Very cool camera!

 

The term "lightweight" must bet taken in the context of the 1940s and aerial photography cameras in general. This was actually a fairly small unit that could be handheld, whereas other cameras utilizing much larger negative sizes were a LOT bigger/heavier. Even the standard press camera of the day, the 4X5 Speed Graphic and other similar cameras, are extremely heavy by today's standards.

 

The K-20 is actually fairly simple, with a neat forward/backward twisting mechanism for advancing the film and cocking the shutter. I'm sure you're example could be used if shooting 4X5 roll film was still feasible.

 

I know that lightweight met something different back in the 1940's. I actually had a photo of an air crewman hanging out the side of a plane with one of these cameras but I cannot seem to locate it. Nor can I find it online.

 

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