66. Tours. Aviation School, 1919 | Edward Steichen's World War I Years

Plate 66. Tours Aviation School, from an album of World War I aerial photography assembled by Edward Steichen, in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Plate 66, from an untitled album of World War I photographs, 1919

Plate 66, from an untitled album of World War I photographs, 1919 (detail)

Gelatin silver print
Gift of William Kistler, 1977.742

Steichen, while advocating for the greater use of aerial photography, suggested that a training camp for observers and observation pilots be established closer to the front. Although recruits to the Photographic Section were trained to fly and observe at specialized AEF schools before leaving the States, Steichen had noted that not all the men arriving in Europe had the “natural aptitude” for photography, many having signed up for the Photographic Section out of an eagerness to get to the front rather than out of genuine photographic experience. Steichen designed a curriculum for a month-long Photographic School at the 2nd Aviation Center at Tours, which was the main training base for observers and observation pilots during the war.

Printed recto, lower center [perpendicular to page], in black ink: “2ND [“ND” in superscript/underlined] AVIATION INSTRUCTION CENTER.”; inscribed recto, on album page, lower left, in black/brown ink: “Tours. Aviation School”; printed recto, on album page, lower right, in black ink: “Photographic Section. / Air Service. American Expeditionary Forces.”; inscribed recto, on album page, lower right, in blue ink: “66”; unmarked verso