851.248/346: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 13—2:55 p.m.]
640. Personal for the President. The French and British inferiority in the air makes it essential for the French and British to obtain immediately all the pursuit planes and bombardment planes that they can possibly get.
Since yesterday afternoon Paul Reynaud, Laurent-Eynac, Minister for Air, Meny, Undersecretary for Air and the aide-de-camp of General Vuillemin, Supreme Commander for Air, have all asked me to take up with you three questions:
(1) The French Government believes that there are now on the docks in New York about 100 Curtiss P–36 planes in crates. Owing to the length of time that it takes to assemble American planes on French soil, and owing to the inadequate number of French aviation mechanics that can be put on this work, the French Government desires to have the Curtiss airplanes which are now in crates in New York removed from their crates at once and assembled in the United States.
[Page 219]If this should prove to be possible the French Government would send immediately an aircraft carrier which could carry at least 70 planes per voyage.
(2) The question of assemblage in France is equally serious for bombardment planes and the French Government desires if possible in future to have bombardment planes assembled in the United States and flown to Europe.
For various reasons the southern route seems impracticable and the planes would have to be flown by way of the northern route from Canada. I have been asked whether or not it might be possible to have American reserve pilots resign their commissions in the reserve and fly these planes from the United States to England or France. Both Reynaud and Meny, and the representative of General Vuillemin as well asked me to take up this matter with you personally and stated that Colonel Jacquin74 would be ordered immediately to get in touch with the members of the American Government that he sees regularly to attempt to arrange both these questions. Later, Laurent-Eynac stated to me that a telegram already had been sent to Jacquin.
(3) All the persons referred to above appealed to me to attempt to obtain any number possible of additional pursuit planes and fast bombers. It is the opinion of the French air force that bombardment planes must have A–1 speed of at least 450 kilometers an hour and pursuit planes a speed of at least 520 kilometers an hour in order to be of use in the present war. The only exception is the Curtiss P–36. All the men referred to above emphasized that it is absolutely essential that the schedule of motor deliveries by American motor manufacturers should be exactly gauged to him [sic]. There is a slight delay in deliveries of motors for the block 176.
I cannot over-emphasize the importance of the air factor at the present moment or the urgency with which the requests recorded above have been made to me.
- French representative in Washington.↩