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with much less than normal consumption of asphalt because of our war-necessary deferrment of paving and other construction, there is a great surplus of asphalt taxing our storage facilities.  While we could not well spare transportation
facilities the Spaniards have a merchant fleet and it would seem beneficial to sell them all that they might be able to transport to Spain for their immediate construction needs.

While discussing recent developments in cargo aircraft with the President of the Board and the Managing Director of "Iberia", I asked what airplanes they would like to purchase if the situation were such that prompt delivery could be offered on any type of airplane produced in any country in the world.  The instantaneous answer was "six DC-3's".  That is indicative of two things, first, their high regard for American flying equipment; second, that "Iberia" is not planning immediate long range intercontinental operations.

Agreements with Portugal

Upon conclusion of agreements with Spain for rights of commercial entry and transit, similar agreements should be promptly worked out with Portugal, not only because Lisbon is another point named on most of the CIS routes, but because landing rights in the Azores are needed for efficient operations with suitable payloads. In flying from New York to Azores, Lisbon and Madrid, a base for refueling is needed at Bermuda. Even then the 2050-mile flight from Bermuda to the Azores will require reduction in payload in order to carry necessary gasoline. Even the latest aircraft designed to be able to negotiate 2,000 or 3,000-mile hops with worthwhile payloads can carry increased payloads if they make shorter hops. That, in turn, reduces unit cost for transportation of passengers or other cargo, which automatically increases volume and revenue, and reduces the necessity for governmental subsidies.

The 2400-mile hop from New York to the Azores could be broken into two 1200-mile flights by the installation of one Armstrong type seadrome at a halfway point and would cut some 450 miles from the 2000-mile distance New York-Bermuda-Azores. Or, on the other hand, two seadromes could be installed on the direct New York-Lisbon route of 3,400 miles, breaking that distance into three flights of slightly over 1,100 miles each.

Meteorology

Flights between Bermuda and the Azores are severely handicapped by the lack of weather reports over this great stretch of Atlantic Ocean and the great area to the north thereof. On our return flight the wind conditions midway between the Azores and Bermuda were so considerably different from the estimates based on the Bermuda and [[?]] observations that there was a very grave question as to us being able to reach Bermuda with the gasoline supply on board. I was advised that this is not at all uncommon.