Fully Developed

摘要

The first sentence of the caption to the photograph on p. 73 of your July 2009 issue ("Flashback: The Image Catchers") is misleading. Aerial photography in World War I began as early as September 1914, and was in wide-scale use by all combatants well before the US entered the conflict (April 6, 1917). Appropriately, your photograph shows what appears to be a British ground crewman handing a camera to an observer in a Royal Aircraft Factory FE2.The critical role of aerial reconnaissance during any major conflict since World War I has been underplayed by the emphasis on fighter aces and strategic bombing.