839.00/3–2447
The Acting Secretary of State to the Embassy in the Dominican Republic
No. 178
The Acting Secretary of State refers to the Department’s airgram No. A–41 of February 26, Embassy’s airgram No. A–76 of March 4, and the Embassy’s telegrams No. 51 of March 13 and No. 56 of March 24.7 These communications deal with the appearance of suspicious aircraft, apparently originating in the United States and appearing in the Dominican Republic.
This situation has received consideration in the Department. The following information is provided for the Embassy’s use in dealing with this situation. The only aircraft among those mentioned for which export licenses were issued are the PBY–5A and the OA–10. It is believed that these are the same amphibious planes observed at Santiago and Ciudad Trujillo. These planes were to be sold to the Compañía Aviación Dominicana and were to be converted to cargo carriers. If these planes were resold to the Dominican Army or if they are being used to train Dominican Air Force personnel, such action is contrary to the understanding held at the time the export licenses were issued and was not contemplated in the issuance of the licenses. Any information which can be obtained locally as the actual manner in which the transfer of the planes from the Compañía Aviación Dominicana to the [Page 633] Dominican Army was accomplished should be reported to the Department, so that further transactions of this type may be forestalled.
No licenses have been issued for the export of any B–14 or P–38 type planes to the Dominican Republic or any of the adjacent areas. If planes of this type seen in the Dominican Republic were flown out of the United States, this was done illegally and no records are available concerning them.
It is desired that any further information obtainable in the Dominican Republic concerning the source of these suspicious aircraft be reported to the Department so that it may be forwarded to the agencies investigating this situation.
The information concerning these aircraft has been made available to Military Intelligence for use in an Army investigation of this problem, particularly the desire of the Dominican Government to obtain planes from Borinquen field. Similarly, a report has been made to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with a request that these aircraft be investigated, as well as the attempts to export other contraband implements of war to the Caribbean and Central American areas.
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- None printed.↩