Sydney Cotton
Sydney Cotton (1894-1969) was an Australian-born aviation pioneer and adventurer. He developed British Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, originally working for the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) after the Royal Air Force (RAF) initially decided there was no need to take photographs of Germany before the Second World War. He flew weapons into Pakistan and other crisis areas after the war.
Early aviation
Before the war, he was a barnstormer in Queensland, and developed the Sidcot Flying Suit, and worked in marketing an early color photographic process. ,Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag
Both in technology and operations, he was an innovator in photoreconnaissance. When the RAF's cameras would fail to operate, he solved a freezing problem by directing warm air onto them. By fine-tuning the streamlining of aircraft, including moving to smooth gloss paint, he added 20-30 mph to the speed of his reconnaissance platforms.