The Air Force took a major step towards cutting the number of students in advanced AFROTC courses yesterday as Air Secretary Harold E. Talbott announced that colleges are to produce pilots rather than administrators.

Colonel Frank Bostrom, commanding officer of the Harvard AFROTC detachment, last night said the number of men admitted to the advance course next year who have not passed a flying physical will be "limited," as he had previously indicated to AFROTC students.

Colonel Bostrom said, however, that the flying requirement is still only a factor and not an iron-clad clause, and that academic standing will continue to be important for admittance to the advanced course.

The past apathy of AFROTC students about choosing flying careers with the Air Force and the pending budget cut in military spending have both influenced the policy shift.

Need for Pilots

In an address to Princeton students, Talbott said that "since the need for junior officers who are not qualified of don't desire to fly, and who lack the technical background will be more and more restricted, the number of students in this category admitted to the advance course will be limited sharply."

Army Extension

The Army, meanwhile, has announced a "period of grace" lasting from three to 12 months in which graduated cadets can enter active service, according to First Army Headquarters.

Under the new ruling, students who graduate this spring from the Army ROTC may choose any month they wish to enter active service, as long as it is between July 1953 and June 1954.

Students who receive their commissions at summer camp are also included in the ruling.

The "period of grace" will be particularly important to the students who plan a year of graduate study directly after graduation.