Office of the Historian

751G.00/5–654: Telegram

The Chargé at Saigon (McClintock) to the Department of State

confidential
priority
Saigon, May 6, 1954—5 p.m.

2264. Repeated information priority Paris 779, priority Tokyo 92. Tokyo for General Partridge. MAAG Saigon has received message dated May 6 stating CAT pilots McGovern and Bufford brought down by anti-aircraft fire over Dien Bien Phu and that there is no hope for them. DeJean tells me plane exploded mid-air. CAT air drop operation has been suspended. Further details will be furnished when available.1

McClintock
  1. In telegram 2275 from Saigon, May 7, McClintock stated that the Embassy had received reports that CAT crews were “on strike” as the result of disgust with the failure of the French Air Force to provide sufficient flak suppression cover. (751G.00/5–754) Army message OARMA MC 224–54 from Saigon, May 7, the Joint Daily Situation Report, included the following comment with regard to the loss of the CAT flight: “Even though Viet Minh knew American CAT pilots flying C-119s to Dien Bien Phu they did not have absolute confirmation. If objects found as result of this crash identifying pilots as Americans this would be strong Communist propaganda tool.” (751G.00/5–754) In telegram 651 from Hanoi, May 11, it was reported that there had been no strike of CAT pilots and that CAT flights had been resumed on May 8. (751G.00/5–1154)↩