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On Friday, Oct. 27, 2017, Dr. David S. Silverman, associate professor of Communication Studies at ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ, delivered a 1950s vintage aerial reconnaissance camera to David Moreno, archivist at the Kansas Aviation Museum in Wichita.

Given that the camera, a Fairchild K-37, was originally donated to Kansas State College in 1959 after it was decommissioned, it’s likely that it was used during the Cold War on RB-57 Canberras for nighttime aerial reconnaissance that were stationed here in Kansas — possibly at Schilling Air Force Base in Salina, according to Moreno. Other K-37s flew on U-2 spy planes in the 1950s and ’60s, and one is on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

According to Dr. Dorothy Hanna, professor of Chemistry at ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ, the camera found its way to the university and sat forgotten for many years until a recent effort to clear out storage areas made it apparent that ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ could no longer keep it. Dr. Silverman, a Cold War history buff, expressed an interest in the camera and sought out a museum that would put it on display.

The camera, valued in excess of $2,500, joins a growing collection of aerial reconnaissance cameras at the Kansas Aviation Museum that Moreno hopes to put on display in the near future.

ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ

100 E. Claflin Avenue
Salina, KS 67401

785-827-5541

ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and/or ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.