811.348 Z 4/44
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Great Britain (Wheeler)91
Sir: The Department has been informed by the Secretary of the Navy that the rigid airship ZR–3, now building in Friedrichshafen, Germany, for the Government of the United States, will fly to Lake-hurst, New Jersey, sometime between the fifteenth of November and the first of December, 1923. The probable route of the ship will be from Friedrichshafen across France to the Bay of Biscay, thence across Cape Finisterre, the Azores and possibly the Bermuda Islands. It appears that the route cannot be absolutely determined at this time, however, and it is possible that the airship may fly over The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal and Great Britain before crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
You are requested to advise the Government to which you are accredited of this proposed flight with a view to securing its permission for the airship to pass over its territory, and to report by cable.
I am [etc.]
- The same instruction, mutatis mutandis, was sent to the diplomatic representatives in Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.↩