740.0011 European War 1939/32128
The Spanish Ministry for Foreign Affairs to the American Embassy in Spain 45
Note Verbale
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs presents its compliments to the Embassy of the United States and, in acknowledgment of the latter’s Note Verbale No. 1570 of November 9, has the honor to advise that the version officially received by this Department concerning the aviation incident which took place on October 28 in the Canary Islands Zone does not coincide with the information arriving at that Mission.
[Page 629]That which occurred on the above-mentioned date was exactly the following: at 11:55 a pursuit plane was obliged to take off at Puerto Luz in view of the presence of two bimotor planes, of unknown nationality, which were already flying from south to north at an altitude of 400 meters and a distance of 5 kilometers from the coast. When they saw the Spanish pursuit plane, the two referred-to machines went away in the northwest direction to some 8 or 10 kilometers in front of Puerto Luz, but they returned immediately, arriving to the vertical of the cited port. Warned by some bursts of machine-gun fire from the pursuit plane, they answered with violent firing, also from machine-guns of what appeared to be 12 mm. caliber, in spite of the fact that at that moment they were, as has been said, in a clearly prohibited location. The Spanish pursuit plane retired and the two planes, American according to that Mission, continued flying for some 20 minutes over Las Palmas and its port, thus persisting in their flagrant and illicit violation of Spanish air space in spite of the fact that the ground battery again fired a warning volley.
In this concrete case, therefore, the protest formulated by that Mission is groundless, and, on the other hand, there is basis for the protest which this Department begs the Embassy of the United States to transmit to its Government for the violation committed and especially for the refusal of the aviators to pay attention to the signals given them, with the aggravating factor of having answered them with violent firing, hoping that the pertinent Authorities will give suitable instructions in order that American planes not fly over prohibited zones and succeed in maintaining in the proximity of territorial waters sufficient distance to avoid any possible incident which, like those which have occurred, would be most regrettable and which the Spanish Government desires to avoid.
As to the incidents which occurred on the other dates mentioned in the Note Verbale, this Ministry has applied to the competent authorities and is awaiting their report in order to adopt suitable measures, of which it will be pleased to inform that Mission.
- Copy transmitted to the Department by the Ambassador in Spain in his despatch No. 1624, November 18; received December 2.↩