811.34553B/58: Telegram
The Minister in Portugal (Norweb) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:54 p.m.]
143. For the Secretary and Matthews. Commander Huff with my full concurrence is leaving tomorrow for the United States proceeding via Terceira on the understanding that he will be available to return on short notice. I have asked him to call at the Department upon his arrival in Washington. He is fully conversant with the whole position and will therefore be able to supply any detail background material. Huff will also discuss with the Navy Department the proposal [Page 8] which evolved out of the discussion referred to in the ultimate paragraph of my 116, January 13, which the British Embassy has submitted to London, namely that Salazar be informed that since his objections to the operation of an American Navy squadron were made at such a late date, it was not practicable at this stage to countermand the arrangements made by the Combined Chiefs of Staff but that to meet his objections, this American squadron had been incorporated into the RAF,28 the incorporation being a fiction, not a fact.
He will also discuss with the Navy Department whether alternatively the inclusion of an American squadron operated exclusively by American personnel is sufficiently vital to warrant the invocation of article 8 of the Anglo-Portuguese agreement.
Incidentally Huff has been most helpful.
- Royal Air Force.↩