T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1
bombers from North America to the home base.57 A glance at the
map will show that the shortest and best possible alternate routes
crossed the middle Atlantic by way of Bermuda and the Azores or
direct from Newfoundland to the Azores, and thence northeast to
the United Kingdom. Use of the Azores depended on the consent of
Portugal, and negotiations were opened with that country for the
establishment of an airdrome on one of the islands in the group, to
be manned by a security force of American air and ground troops.
No definite answer had been received from the Portuguese government
when the North Atlantic shuttle service was suspended on I 8 October
1941. Upon the request of the Ferrying Command, the State Depart-
ment again pressed for an answer, but Portugal was unwilling to
jeopardize its neutral it^.^'
Blocked for the time being in the effort to establish a transport
service across the middle Atlantic to Britain, the Air Corps turned its
attention in October and November 1941 to the opening of a service
to Cairo over the South Atlantic route. Two survey flights were made
over the route in Ferrying Command B-24's in September and early
October. The first of these, which served also to carry Maj. Gen.
George H. Brett, Chief of the Air Corps, on a special mission to the
Middle East, left Bolling Field on 3 I August for Cairo and proceeded
as far as Basra at the head of the Persian Gulf before returning to
Washington on 7 October. Lt. Col. Caleb V. Haynes served as pilot
and Maj. Curtis E. LeMay as co-pilot on this pioneer 26,000-mile trip,
the first flight over the whole of the South Atlantic route from the
United States to the Middle East and return." Shortly thereafter,
Lieutenant Reichers traversed approximately the same route from east
to west on his flight home from Moscow.* 6 o
The decision to open a regular transport service came early in
November, following a request for the transportation of personnel
and equipment to Cairo to organize the air section of the U.S.
North African Military Mission.'l Formal orders to open a regular
service were given to the Ferrying Command, and on 14 November
the first B-24 left Bolling Field. Lt. Edson E. Kester was at the con-
trols, with Capt. Lawrence M. Thomas acting as co-pilot. Brig. Gen.
Elmer E. Adler, newly appointed chief of the air section of the mis-
sion, headed the passenger list."z Four other transports departed
* See above, p. 318.
326