883.79690F/9–444
The American Minister Resident in Saudi Arabia ( Moose ) to the Saudi Arabian Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs ( Tusuf Yassin )10
Excellency: I have the honor to refer to my conversation with His Majesty King Abdul Aziz ibn Abdurrahman at Riyadh on Tuesday evening, July 25, 1944, and, in continuation thereof, to ask Your Excellency to present to His Majesty the request of the United States military authorities for permission to make an aerial and engineering survey in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to determine the feasibility of a direct air route from Cairo, Egypt, to a point near Dhahran.
As has already been explained to Your Excellency, the United States military air forces are responsible for heavy air traffic movements between points in North Africa and India, and the responsible authorities believe that a direct route between Cairo and a point near Dhahran would materially facilitate the movement of this traffic, and aid in the prosecution of the war.
The flight of airplanes between Cairo and Karachi now follows the Cairo–Habbaniyah–Abadan–Bahrein–Karachi route, or a distance of 2471 statute miles. The direct route Cairo–Dhahran–Karachi would [Page 662] reduce the distance to 2259 statute miles, thereby effecting a saving of 212 statute miles for each flight of each plane.
In addition to the saving in distance, flight along the direct alignment from Cairo to Dhahran would mean that the entire route from Morocco to India would be divided into approximately equal stages, and that the loading of a plane need not be changed because of the necessity of taking on greater or smaller quantities of gasoline proportionate to the length of variable stages.
Your Excellency will no doubt recall that the United States military authorities have no intention of abandoning the route Cairo–Abadan–Bahrein, but desire to supplement it by the more direct route from Cairo to Dhahran.
In order to determine the feasibility of the proposed direct route from Cairo to Dhahran, the United States military authorities request permission to make an aerial survey of the proposed route, to consist of six round trip flights from Cairo east across Saudi Arabia to Dhahran, to observe weather conditions, and to determine locations of emergency landing fields and of radio aids to navigation, as well as the general feasibility of the route. They also request permission to carry out an engineering survey in the area lying within 150 miles of Dhahran to determine the most suitable site for an airport on the Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia. The surveys can begin immediately, and can be terminated within a period of sixty days.
Should the proposed route be found feasible, and should the present runways at Bahrein not be capable of supporting the heavy traffic expected, the United States military authorities will desire permission to construct an airport somewhere within the area lying within 150 miles of Dhahran.
If His Majesty desires further details of the projected air route, I shall be glad to obtain and supply any information desired.
There is forwarded with this note a map showing the present air route from Cairo to Bahrein via Habbaniyah and Abadan, as well as the direct route from Cairo to Dhahran.
It is hoped that His Majesty will be able to assist the United States military authorities in their task by granting the permission indicated above.
Accept [etc.]
- Copy transmitted to the Department in despatch 1, September 4, from Jidda; received September 13.↩