Assured that the study was needed, the first of a long series of letters, 

 official and otherwise, which helped bring together all the necessary people 

 and components which were needed to make the plan succeed were written. 

 In addition to the actual task of taking the photos under suitable wave con- 

 ditions the data had to be analyzed on a stereo planigraph or similar instru- 

 ment and facilities for the immense task of computing the required quantities 

 with high speed digital computors had to be obtained. 



The first piece of official correspondence on SWOP in the files is dated 

 November 9, 1953. It was a formal letter from the Chief of Naval Research 

 to the Chief of Naval Operations outlining the reasons for the SWOP project 

 and asking for certain services. Cameras, airplanes and a radio link for 

 firing the cameras were requested. The letter went via the Bureau of Aero- 

 nautics for comment. It picked up a favorable endorsement recommending 

 that the project be assigned to the Photographic Squadron VJ-62 in Sanford, 

 Florida. To the practiced eye of our friends in CNO it was obvious that 

 the proposed job was much more complicated than the letter indicated. 



The Naval Photo Interpretation Center was asked by CNO to study the 

 proposal and comment. As a result of the review^, a number of critical points 

 were raised. There were problems of control of aircraft height, of control of 

 distance between aircraft, of tilt and of simultaneous firing of the cameras- 

 Establishing a pattern that was to becoine a routine method of solving the 

 problems which arose, a conference of all concerned was called to discuss 

 each point in detail. This conference which was held at the Naval Photo- 



