This is one of the most significant photographs ever published in this country. Below the aeroplane from which the picture was taken lie the Naos islands, in the bay of Panama, on which the United States Government is now mounting batteries of the heaviest artillery in the world, to protect the Pacific approach to the Panama Canal. On the island almost directly under the aeroplane can be seen the emplacement for the most powerful weapon ever constructed, the first 16-inch disappearing gun, which has an effective range of about twelve miles. Here is the significance of this photograph: the aeroplane might have come, in time of war, from a battleship out of range of the big gun, flying at a safe height and carrying five hundred or more pounds of high explosive, instead of a camera. Would not the big gun be helpless against such a foe?
This remarkable photograph was taken by Ray A. Duhem from the hydro-aeroplane of the noted aviator, Robert G. Fowler. Under unusual difficulties Fowler made a daring flight across the Isthmus from the Pacific to the Atlantic, so far the only aviator to make the journey. Shortly afterward, President Wilson issued an executive order forbidding such, flights, under heavy penalty. The photographs made on this flight, in themselves a notable achievement in motion photography, are probably the only pictures that will ever be taken of the Canal from the air, except for purposes of war. This page in Sunset Magazine is the first publication of any of the photographic records of that unique flight.
This remarkable photograph was taken by Ray A. Duhem from the hydro-aeroplane of the noted aviator, Robert G. Fowler. Under unusual difficulties Fowler made a daring flight across the Isthmus from the Pacific to the Atlantic, so far the only aviator to make the journey. Shortly afterward, President Wilson issued an executive order forbidding such, flights, under heavy penalty. The photographs made on this flight, in themselves a notable achievement in motion photography, are probably the only pictures that will ever be taken of the Canal from the air, except for purposes of war. This page in Sunset Magazine is the first publication of any of the photographic records of that unique flight.
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