Evening star., 1929-12-15

ON earth or, more strictly
above it.
At that time this meant leaning over the side
of a swaying balloon basket and taking pictures
of the pleasant countryside below with an ordi-
nary camera 1t was long before the days OF
+'fying dark rooms" and special aerial cameras.
But it was thrilling business even If 1t d1onS
take one very far away from civilization
Now aerOnautical improvements have tns
creased the flyers margin of safety while in the
air but additional thrills have been brought into
the life of a flying cameraman by the fact
that these same Improvements have made all
the widest and littiest known parts OF the earth
& especially inviting to him.
It is now possible, for instance, for two men
the photographer and his pilot-to fly over un-
known terrain and in 10 hours flying time chart
q country that would have taken an engineer
ing crew on the ground three months. The
finished product of such an aerial survey is a
composite photograph that shows at glance
the actual topography of the section.
Bonnick recently returned from his second
aerial survey of parts OF Mexico never nown
over by man. His pictures show cloSe-upS OF
mountains whose jagged edges could rip the
plane wing from wing in the twinkling OF an
eye And jungles so impenetrable that getting
into them for any distance would require days
of arduouS labor cutting path as wide as
Mexican'S hat. His adventures included argu-
mentS with pythonS, wild boarS and anigatorS
Bonnick's recent Mexican expedition was over
an almost inaccessible region in country in
habited by ancient ruins and hostile Indians.
ysXNE left Brownsville. Texas, for destina-
w ton far In the interior of Mexico" Bon
nick relates "As far as civilization is concerned
it was the original and well known jumping-oh
place.
I'VE were to survey some 1900 square miles
of weird country-au mountains, jungleS and
swamps We carried parachutes, of course, but
r oRt of feet 1 MI
should have to pile out in hurry which would
be the best course to drift. There was smsil
choice between snake-infested swamps and jun
giles and streams alive with alligators.
I'VE made a reconnaissance flight over the
area to be photographed and went to work in
earnest. A large part of the survey was shot in
q flight of hours and 20 minutes.
1.-THE next morning my pilot, George Kraigher,
who had served in the Serbian and French avia-
ton services during the war, rushed into my
quarters to greet me with Shake, old man, we're
in the war againI Go over and look at the
plane!
'I followed him outside and found eight fed
eral soldiers, with guns extended. guarding our
plane, and they wouldn't let us near it, After
some inquiry found that the guard had spe-
cial orders from the general in command Of the
district. Owing to the outbreak of a revolution,
we would be unable to take our plane of the
ground. We were assured, however, that our
equipment would be protected.
"This condition lasted for several weeks. dur
ing which time we gazed at a cloudless sky and
tore our hair. Photographic days were going by
and we weren't able to take a single picture.
1.-The average aerial Photographic time is one
day in seven, and naturally our organization
makes sure when a favorable day arrives that
pictures will be made. It checks closely on
weather reports, advance notification of weather
conditions and last-minute notice by phone or
radio. If q photographer fails to turn in a roll
of films after all these checks have been made,
he has to furnish first-class alibi.
when sent the New York office picture
of our plane resting in the hangar with eight
Mexican soldiers standing guard in front of the
entrance. my alibi was perfect!
sS A T one time we were commanded to go aloft
and make a survey Of the rebel lines and
under guard of one Mexican soldier who went
in the plane with us, we flew over the territory