Capt. Stevens Discusses Value of Aerial Photography in Interview Here--Aviation Requires Varied Talent Now

"The future in aviation for the ambitious man who wishes to get ahead in this field will not necessarily invoice personal flying", stated Captain A. W. Stevens, of the U. S. Army Air Corps, in an interview yesterday morning at the institute of Geographical Exploration. A few moments before, he had been on the train from Cleveland, and now, surrounded by a group of news and camera men, he was unable to get at the equipment sent from Texas last week, awaiting to be unpacked in preparation for the course on aerial photography which meets for the first time at four o'clock this afternoon.

"Everybody knows," he continued, "that there was a practical boom in aviation just after the war, when certain young men made fortunes in the flying end of the game. That period is passed. But the aviation industry, like the older systems of transportation, needs designers, engineers, advertising men, business executives, and the host of employees necessary to the successful moving of mail, express, and passengers.

"Many present developments in aviation," Stevens went on, "are along the lines of industrial and governmental usefulness; for instance, the work in my department is saving great expense of time and labor in assisting governmental survey work. Aerial photography cuts down tremendously the time in which a given project may be accomplished. It has recently been used by the Air Corps of Engineers for a canal across the State of Florida, saving many months in making a decision as to the best practical location of the waterway. There are three departments of the government engaged i n the preparation of maps for public use: the U. S. Corps of Engineers, the U. S. Geological Survey, and the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey; all of these are materially aided by the cooperation of the Army and Navy in the use of modern aerial cameras."

When asked about the night pictures he has been taking recently, Stevens said, "I am not prepared to go into this question. Thus far the experiments have been justified by necessity for military prepareduess. From an altitude of 2,000 feet a section of the earth two miles in diameter may be illuminated enough to be photographed, and night pictures may now be made with certainty. With special emulsions, we have been able to photograph over the earth's surface for a distance of over 330 miles. Still more sensitive emulsions are being made by laboratories, and will be tested in the near future."