DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN
FROM TEX
MSG NO 205 0405 GREENWICH 13 JULY 1943
TO AGGIE
REFERENCE AIRLINE
HUMBERTO DUARTE, HEREAFTER TÍO HANK, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BANCO DE INGLATERRA Y ARGENTINA, HEREAFTER BANK, ADVISED ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE TO OBTAIN PERMISSION TO FORM AND OPERATE AIRLINE WITHOUT PARTICIPATION OF SENIOR ARGENTINE OFFICER, ENTIRELY ARGENTINE FLIGHT CREWS, AND APPOINTMENT OF BUREAU OF INTERNAL SECURITY OFFICER, HEREAFTER BIS, AS CHIEF PILOT TO ENSURE AIRLINE DOES NOT CARRY OUT OSS ACTIVITIES.
SOUTH AMERICAN AIRWAYS, S.A., HEREAFTER SAA, FORMED LAST NIGHT WITH INITIAL CAPITALIZATION OF $3,432,000. TEX SIXTY PERCENT MAJORITY STOCKHOLDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR WITH INVESTMENT OF $2,200,000 OBTAINED FROM BANK WITH LOAN AGAINST LOCAL PROPERTIES.
BANK HOLDS FIFTEEN PERCENT OF REMAINDER. SEÑORA CLAUDIA CARZINO-CORMANO, HEREAFTER TÍA CLAUDIA, AND TÍO HANK 12.5 PERCENT EACH. THEY WILL SIT ON BOARD OF DIRECTORS WITH COLONEL JUAN DOMINGO PERÓN, HEREAFTER TÍO JUAN. MAJOR GONZALO DELGANO, BIS,
QUOTE RETIRED END QUOTE, HEREAFTER HAWK, HAS BEEN NAMED CHIEF PILOT.
PLEASE ARRANGE FOR FOURTEEN PARROTS PLUS SIXTY-DAY SUPPLY OF SPARES TO BE SENT TO BIRDCAGE FOR PICKUP BY TEX AND HAWK. ONE PARROT NEEDED IMMEDIATELY, OTHERS AT SEVEN- TO FOURTEEN-DAY INTERVALS.
ALSO URGENTLY NEED SIX REPEAT SIX 500-WATT COLLINS MODEL 295 TRANSCEIVERS AND ADEQUATE REPEAT ADEQUATE SPARES FOR SAME.
ADVISE HOW YOU INTEND TO PAY FOR ALL THIS.
FISHING NONPRODUCTIVE
ACKNOWLEDGE
TEX
“You believe this?” Donovan asked.
“I have no reason not to.”
Donovan shook his head unbelievingly.
“What does he mean by that ‘fishing nonproductive’ remark?”
“Presumably, that he has found no replenishment ships in the River Plate.”
“Okay. I presume ‘parrots’ means airplanes—”
“Lockheed Lodestars,” Graham confirmed.
“Does he have enough money to buy fourteen of them?”
“They go for about a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. Fourteen would be one and three quarters million.”
“I know who Perón is, but who are these other people?”
“Aunt Claudia was Frade’s father’s . . . how do I put this? . . . great and good friend.”
“You mean ‘mistress’?”
“ ‘Mistress’ means to me some young tootsie being supported by a sugar daddy. Señora Carzino-Cormano is just about as well off as Frade was. As our Frade now is. I’m guessing that she’s an investor and on the board, because if she is, there won’t be some other Argentine. Same thing for Uncle Hank, whose wife is the late Colonel Frade’s sister. Or, equally possible, both of them saw it as an interesting investment. The bank’s in for fifteen percent.”
“Presuming we send him the airplanes—”
“I think we are morally obliged to send him the airplanes. We told him the President wanted an airline, and he’s set up one.”