711.5127/2
The Acting Secretary of State to the French Ambassador (Claudel)19
Excellency: As you are doubtless aware, the Government of the United States, although signatory, has not as yet become a party to the International Flying Convention of 1919 regarding international aerial navigation.20
However, I may say that this Government fully appreciates the importance in the mean time of reaching agreements with the various nations of the world with a view to facilitating international aerial navigation with especial reference to commercial and privately owned aircraft. Since 1920 this Government has had an informal agreement on the subject with the Dominion of Canada which agreement is now under discussion between the two Governments with a view to revision to conform to present day conditions. The subject has also for some months past been under discussion with the British Government and this Government has suggested the desirability of effecting a general agreement providing for the reciprocal [Page 533] issuance of pilots’ licenses and the mutual recognition of airworthiness certificates by Great Britain and the United States and has made a similar proposal to the Irish Free State. This Government has recently suggested to the British Government and to the Government of the Irish Free State the use of the proposed Canadian agreement as a model for this purpose and it takes this occasion to inquire whether your Government would be disposed to consider the adoption of a similar agreement between France and the United States which would extend to the United States and its possessions on the one hand, and on the other to France and its possessions. For your convenience, I enclose a copy of the draft text to the agreement now being discussed with the Government of Canada21 which, as you will perceive, is based on the principle of recognition of the sovereignty of a state over the air space above its territory and upon reciprocity of treatment subject, of course, to restrictions designed to promote safety in aerial navigation and to make suitable provision for the requirements of national defense.
It is understood, of course, that the agreement thus envisaged would not apply to military, naval, customs and police aircraft employed in the service of either state, which would continue to require special authorization to fly over or to land on the territory of the other state.
This Government is making similar proposals to a number of the other nations including Italy, Germany and Spain, and in the meantime it ventures to express the hope that your Government may be disposed to conclude an agreement in the form suggested above. In such an event, it is further proposed that the agreement be effected by means of an exchange of notes.
Accept [etc.]
- Also sent, mutatis mutandis, to the German and the Spanish Ambassadors, June 12, and to the Netherlands Minister, July 22.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1926, vol. i, p. 152.↩
- Not printed.↩