Photography neophyte. What I've done is to rescue the front-set of a Kodak "Big Bertha" lens system. The identification: "Type I Telephoto Lens 36 Inch (916 mm) f/8 9X18 RM1002 Made in U.S.A. by Eastman Kodak Co. 805700." The front-set is housed in a black metal casing. No tube, no other lens(es).

I know nothing about this, but picked up from the internet that this lens system was used with the Graflex cameras. Any information would be appreciated. Objectives: build a wonderful lunar and planetary low-magnification refractor and use the lens for photography with my humble Pentax 35mm's. We have a home-built 6" Dobs telescope, so project has a chance.

From the Detroit Free Press History page (which moves around a lot on their web site http://www.freep.com) they were the first ones to modifiy a 5x7 home portrait Graflex into a big bertha. They modified some more for other newspapers, and I'm sure other newspapers improved the design with every new batch. Consequently there is very little historical information about every lens used on a Big Bertha. 60" Dalmeyer and 40" Dalmeyer telephotos were mentioned early on, but it seems like they used what they could get their hands on.

From the data you've given this sounds like an aerial recon lens, tho it seems a bit long. The serial number RM dates it from '53. Beyond that, I think your plans are great. One of the sad things about the big berthas is that a 40" lens on 5x7 is equivelent to a 20mm on a 35mm camera.