868.248/55a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Greece (MacVeagh)
309. Two or three weeks ago the Greek Minister in Washington was informed that Greece would be allowed to purchase 30 pursuit planes in this country. After reference to his Government, the Minister stated that his Government desired to purchase 30 Curtiss-Wright P–40 pursuit planes. In as much as all of the P–40 planes now being produced are earmarked for Great Britain, the British Government suggested to General Metaxas, through British officials in Athens, that Britain would immediately furnish Greece with 30 Defiant planes, in exchange for Greece’s agreement to forego the 30 Curtiss-Wright planes we had promised. On December 16 the British Chargé d’Affaires in Washington informed the Department that he had received a telegram from his Government stating that General Metaxas had advised the British Government that Greece would be quite satisfied to receive 30 planes from the British aviation forces in Egypt in substitution for the 30 P–40 planes offered by the United States Government. On December 17, however, the Greek Minister [Page 602] submitted a written communication to the Department, stating that “after a careful examination of the offer made in regard to the Defiant planes, the Greek Government came to the conclusion that these planes are not suitable and that Curtiss P–40’s are the adequate ones…87 Therefore the Greek Government want to renew their urgent appeal to the U. S. Government…” On December 18 the Counselor of the Greek Legation in Washington agreed to telegraph his Government urging the acceptance of the Defiant planes.
It is possible that the misunderstanding in this matter will be clarified by the British and Greek authorities. For your information, however, it should be pointed out that while the American Government has no intention of withdrawing the offer made to Greece, the informed authorities of this Government consider that Greece would be well-advised to accept the British offer for several reasons: (1) the time of delivery and shipment to Greece of the P–40’s is uncertain; (2) the P–40 plane is said to be particularly difficult to handle, and partly for this reason our Army is not accepting any further planes of this type; (3) with no spare parts or mechanics in Greece familiar with this plane, the P–40 might soon be more of a liability to Greece than an asset.
If the somewhat delicate situation with regard to these planes has not already been settled, the Department desires that unless you perceive some objection you take such measures as may be feasible and appropriate in an effort to persuade the Greek authorities that its advantage lies in accepting the Defiant offer. We desire to avoid any implication that the American Government is attempting to withdraw its offer to Greece. We are convinced, however, that the British offer is decidedly advantageous to Greece.
- Omissions indicated in the original telegram.↩