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Hi All, this is the last of my three calibration B.57's This one was the only B.57B used for the satellite trials. The kit is the Italeri 1/72 scale B strait out of the box except the markings of course!

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The three amigo's

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Thanks for looking!

John

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Where did you get the decals for all these or are they home made???

Hi Mark yes all home made on the PC using some test pattern images I found on Google and good old MS paint.

Amazing what was the inspiration for the idea ?

Thanks Jockney the aircraft were used for satellite calibration in the early sixties, originally I only had a top side photo of the RB.57D on the right in the second photo but I eventually received more photo via a friend who was in contact with the son of one of the pilots involved. You can see more info on the builds at. http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234939127-then-there-were-two/ and on my site http://ipmscanberrasig.webs.com/apps/forums/topics/show/8436639-operation-pigs-ear-or-how-to-build-the-high-planes-rb-57d

John

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Nice little mini collection within a collection!

So they flew around with the satellites overhead taking photos or were they parked up? I guess this was so that the photo interpretors would then have a sense of scale for looking at someone else's aircraft.

Duncan B

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Thanks chaps!

Nice little mini collection within a collection!

So they flew around with the satellites overhead taking photos or were they parked up? I guess this was so that the photo interpretors would then have a sense of scale for looking at someone else's aircraft.

Duncan B

Hi Duncan

The way it worked was the satellite cameras were fitted in a capsule suspended from a weather balloon which would fly up to the upper atmosphere,. The Canberra's with there very good high altitude performance and stability would fly high above the New Mexico Desert well above much of, if not all the atmospheric pollution, thus giving the clearest possible image. The test patterns were to test the optical quality of the camera lenses, any distortion could be noted and accounted for in subsequent photographs take by the system. They were also for testing the quality of the photographic film emulsion.

John

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Thanks for the links John.

I hadn't appreciated all the build drama as well as the colour schemes !

Also thanks for the history lesson it's easy to forget all the work that went into modern communications which we all happily now take for granted.

Cheers Pat

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What a lovely set of builds, and a fascinating bit of history - I know a few people who work in satellite imaging and will be sending this post their way, sure they'll find it very interesting too...

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What a lovely set of builds, and a fascinating bit of history - I know a few people who work in satellite imaging and will be sending this post their way, sure they'll find it very interesting too...

Thanks Al, I'd be interested to know if they have any thoughts on why one of the Canberra's has convexed mirrors on her?

John

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fantastic work mate. i loved seeing the one of these at cosford. it looks like fashion. i would wear those designs as shirt, tie, suit, shoes whatever. damn awsome.

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fantastic work mate. i loved seeing the one of these at cosford. it looks like fashion. i would wear those designs as shirt, tie, suit, shoes whatever. damn awsome.

Thanks Rob, I'll see what I can do, I'll get the sawing machine out tonight!

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