Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 190, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 August 1918 — CAMERA IS REAL EYE OF ARMY [ARTICLE]

CAMERA IS REAL EYE OF ARMY

Photographer Must Encounter Battle Perils Practfcally Without Fighting Chance. <z . • * / IMPORTANT PLACE IN WAR Hundreds of. Snapshots Taken From Air Arc Cunningly Fitted Together to Make Complete Photograph of Any Given Section. London.—To call the British airmen the eyes of the army is a‘common metaphor. Even at the beginning of tile war they did much observation for the artillery besides playing the leading part in general reconnaissance. But their present value in all matters of observation greatly exceeds anything 'that was expected at the-beginning. Without aircraft fp Important numbers, and without aircraft, whatever their numbers, can hold 'their own against the enemy, an army is practically bjlnd; and without their cameras airmen would not be the allaeeing eyes that they are* /sor, as the airman is the eye of the land* forces, so the camera is the eye of the airman. It at least provides that part •f his vision which is most penetrating and accurate. A series of photographs from the air Is a wonderful piece of work. Hundreds of snapshots go to make it, and these are so cunningly; fitted together that a complete photograph is obtained. So the work goes on, section by section, and by degrees is procured a picture, which cannot 11,e, of the whole of the enemy's defenses from flank to flank of his lines. As his dispositions are constantly changing, or at least being elaborated in important respects, there is no rest for the aegal photographers and no end to their work. Every day on which there is a reasonable visibility until the end of the; war they must' fly into the face of danger to discover new secrets *with their cameras. The danger is of a particularly unpleasant kind, because throughout the 1 ' operation they are within effective range of Archibald—the antiaircraft gun—which is the fly-* Ing man’s most Inveterate if not his most deadly enemy. To take a series of photographs of an enemy position needs a special coolness and nerve. A Trip With .the .“Eye.” This is a typical quiet morning In a day of the photographers of the air.. ,A machine is run out from the sheds, and pilot and observer mount to their places. It is not a fast airplane, as speed-is no w counted, but eacluman is armed with aftmtthlne gun, and attack from the air will be met with stout and efficients resistance. - Attack from the ground. eannot be answered. It can only be evaded by maneuver. Through a hole in the fuselage or body of the-machine a camera points earthward, capable of reproducing a ■considerable area on .each, plate ex,posed. The device by which the snapshots are taken is as simple as it is ingenious, and it is almost “fool proof.” In half, an hour or so ths machine ihas crossed the lines at a height of (little mono than 4,000 feet. Far above are small, fast scouts, ready to attack any aerial enemy that may attempt to Interfere with the work below. From the first, antiaircraft guns are unCoth®* fortably attentive, but the bursts can iat this stage be defeated by climbing, giving or swervlngmovements. It is when the actual objective of has been reached that the real difficulties and dangers come. Farthet dodging and diving are no longer practicable, since an accurate pictorial record can only be obtained by steady flying. The airplane must be as level as, possible when a snapshot is taken. Yet the enemy kn4ws Ithe purpose ofrthe invader and chesses Ithis moment t® make his utmost effort Ito destroy him. The Archl-bursts are thicker than ever#*Ufa range has’been nicely judged? We-bursts are W aimed. Z Under Difficulties. v In the midst of them the-two must do their work as steadily and quietly as if the air -were still. |Up and down.

r ■•. ■ f # over the narrow section of ground whose secret must be won, the pilot steers, for the most part ah even ■ course. Shells burst round them, bn this side and that, beneath and above. At'moments the pilot,is forced to swerve, but he must quickly get level and resume his ordered course. Meanwhile the observer studies Intently the pitted earth below, which would appear jt® the uninitiated as indefinite as a huge plowed field. But his practiced eye picks out its essential features, and; regardless of the shells, he presses bis lever at carefully timed intervals. At last the deed is as a shell bursts close'under their tail and tosses them upward as a wave might lift a cork. Fortunately * the-dtaaiage is slight. “Finished?” asks the pilot through his telephone. “Finished,” says the observer. And they swing for home with an inevitable sense of relief. It is all in the day’s work—a very ordinary job. But even the Airman’s most ordinary job is out of the common as arrisky experience. As for the knowledge obtained, it may prove of vital importance. The camera is more than an eye; it is a weapon. And the hand -that controls it. must beias pur- . poseful and steady as if it held<a rifle-