893.00/7–247: Airgram
The Ambassador in China (Stuart) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 14—8:48 a.m.]
A–148. Reference is made to Embassy telegrams no. 916 of April 28, midnight, and no. 963 of May 4, noon, 1947 and previous, indicating the pressure which the Embassy brought to bear on the Chinese authorities to effect a more effective use by them of the air equipment which the United States Government made available to the Chinese Air Force.
In this connection Embassy is pleased to report that as a result of its intervention the Generalissimo issued the requisite instructions and the Chinese Air Force was granted a sufficient sum of money by the Executive Yuan to permit execution of the plan which was drawn up by the Air Division of the United States Army Advisory Group for moving the surplus equipment stored in Chengtu and Kunming to the Nanking–Shanghai area. General McConnell has just returned from a visit to Chengtu and Kunming where he saw the movement in operation.
Furthermore, there has been some improvement in attaching service groups to combat groups of the Chinese Air Force. The Embassy hopes to be in a position to provide further details in the near future.
In the meantime, an illustration has come to hand which indicates progress in effecting a more cooperative attitude between the several agencies of the Chinese Government concerned with aviation matters. Early on the morning of June 9 a storm suddenly hit Shanghai and damaged 49 C–46s of the Chinese Air Force. In order to effect repairs on these planes CAF has obtained from CATC,31a the operations of which are declining, a large number of control surfaces removed intact from airplanes which CATC is salvaging on Kiangwan airfield. Embassy understands that with these surfaces most of the [Page 858] damaged CAF airplanes will be put back into commission. None is damaged beyond repair, and although a few are service group or depot jobs, they are not extensive in character.
- Central Air Transport Corporation.↩