Papers relating to the foreign relations of the United States, 1929, Volume III

812.00Detention/51

The Secretary of State to the Secretary of War (Work)

Washington, April 13, 1929.

Sir: I have the honor to refer to a telegram dated April 8, 1929, to the Adjutant General from the Commanding General, Eighth Corps Area, transmitting a message dated April 7, from Brigadier General Moseley at Fort Bliss, Texas, to the effect that two Stinson Detroiter airplanes piloted by Mexicans had entered American territory from Mexico and landed at Fort Bliss. This Department made informal inquiry of Colonel Ford, Assistant Chief of Staff, on April 9, 1929, as to the identity of the aviators and as to the disposition which had been made of this case.

Concerning the identity of these aviators and airplanes the Ambassador of Mexico advised this Department in note No. 2071, dated April 9, 1929,⁴⁵ a copy of which was informally furnished your Department on April 10, 1929, that Lieutenants Antonio Cárdenas and Arturo Jimenez, the pilots referred to in the telegram under reference, are Mexican Federal Army officers who had been imprisoned by the rebels but had subsequently escaped; and that the Stinson Detroiters piloted by them are the property of the Mexican Federal Government and bore numbers 73–13 and 73–14, respectively, before they were repainted by the rebels. The Mexican Ambassador requested in these circumstances that the said airplanes be released and placed at the disposition of the Mexican Consul at El Paso, Texas.

In this connection reference is made to the policy invoked in respect to the disposition of the Mexican Federal troops recently detained at Fort Bliss, Texas, as set forth in my letter of April 2, 1929, and I should be grateful if you would be good enough to issue telegraphic instructions to the appropriate United States Army authorities in order that the said aviators and airplanes may be released and placed at the disposition of the Mexican Consul at El Paso, Texas, with the understanding that all arms and ammunition in the possession of the aviators or forming part of the equipment of the airplanes is to be retained and subsequently handed over to the Mexican Federal Commander at Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua.⁴⁶

I have [etc.]

Henry L. Stimson

45. Not printed.
46. On April 15, 1920, the Secretary of War informed the Secretary of State that he had issued instructions to the Commanding General, Eighth Corps Area, to turn over the aforesaid officers, the planes, and their arms and ammunition to the immigration officials for return to Mexican territory (812.00 Detention/55).