896.796/318
The Adviser on Political Relations (Hornbeck) to the Commanding General, Army Air Forces (Arnold)
Dear General Arnold: I send you here attached memoranda51 which are self-explanatory. In the course of brief conversations which I had with Ambassador Gauss during his recent brief visit here, Mr. Gauss indicated that the subject of the Chinese Air Corps pilots was very much in his thought. He said that he had had opportunity to talk with you only very briefly in Chungking and would not be able to talk with you during the short period of his visit here. He gave me, however, a memorandum, as indicated, under date March 31. The best use which I can make of that memorandum is, it seems to me, to send it on to you. Hence this communication.
I may say that, with full consciousness on our part that we lack knowledge of many of the fine points, especially technical points, [Page 45] that bear on the question to which Mr. Gauss’ memorandum relates, several of us in the Department who necessarily study the political angles of this and related questions, feel that the use made or not made, in China, of Chinese personnel trained in the United States—in no matter what field of training—has always been and will continue to be a matter of importance in connection with the general problem of relations between the United States and China.
Yours sincerely,