Fairchild employee learned of this plan and was able to get the older material to three Southern California Institutions, Whittier College, UCLA, and California State University at Northridge, where he knew professors who would put the material to good use. Whittier College closed access to the photographs in 2010, and in 2012 the collection was put up for sale. The University of California Santa Barbara acquired the collection in December, 2012. Lunar photography Fairchild Corporation also developed the Fairchild Lunar Mapping Camera (also known as the Metric Camera) for NASA. The camera was carried on Apollo 15, 16, and 17 and took photos from lunar orbit throughout the missions. Over 7,000 individual frames were captured by the Lunar Mapping Cameras, which resulted in the coverage of approximately 20% of the lunar surface. These frames were primarily used to produce topographic photo maps of the moon. The data acquired by the Apollo Lunar Mapping Cameras provided important information to scientists and geologists studying and mapping the lunar surface. Airplane manufacturing Fairchild soon realized that existing planes were not suitable for the type of maneuvering and extreme conditions that were often encountered during aerial photography. In 1925, he formed the Fairchild Aviation Corporation in Long Island, New York, to build the FC-1, an aircraft specifically designed to provide accurate aerial mapping and surveying. Fairchild was a dominant force in the aviation industry during this period, becoming one of the nation's largest manufacturers of commercial aircraft. Between 1927 and 1930, the company delivered over 300 of the FC-2, the production version of the FC-1 aerial mapping aircraft The aircraft could hold up to five passengers and could also be equipped with float or ski landing gear. The FC-2 was later chosen to accompany Charles A. Lindbergh on his tour of America. It also carried the first international airmail from Key West, Florida to Havana, Cuba. In the span of 9 months, Fairchild went from initial production to being the second largest aircraft producer in the world. Fairchild created, purchased, merged and sold his aviation company several times. He incorporated Fairchild Aviation Corporation as a holding company for all his other endeavors, with two of its largest subsidiaries being the Fairchild Airplane Manufacturing Corporation of Farmingdale, New York, and the Kreider-Reisner Aircraft Company of Hagerstown, Maryland. The Aviation Corp (AVCO) purchased Fairchild Aviation and its subsidiaries in 1930; however, in the following year Fairchild