LSN.
(COPY)
1,21
The Far-East Aviation Co., Ltd.
AIR MARSHAL SIR JOHN HIGGINS, K.C.B., K.B.E.,
Cathay Hotel,
Shanghai.
8th June, 1933.
My dear Southorn,
I wonder whether you could help us over a matter which is hampering the Far East Aviation Company in selling
British aircraft in China.
At the present time we, as manufacturers, have
agreed to send out from four to six new service machines to
be kept at Hong Kong ready to deliver immediately to Chinese
This arrangement has been going on for some
purchasers.
months.
The difficulty however is that the present
regulations only allow machines such as the Atlas and A.W.16
to be exported to Hong Kong provided they are not fitted with
armament, and this being so, the Far East Aviation Company cannot offer immediate delivery of such aircraft ready for service. You will see that the advantage of keeping machines in stock is almost entirely negatived by this obstacle.
It should be noted that it is not only the
immediate sale of two or three machines which is affected.
A Chinese purchaser who is able to obtain immediate delivery of, say, two machines of a certain type is very likely to increase the order to sufficient aircraft for a flight or even a squadron. Having machines ready for delivery in this way is the only method open to us of obviating the great advantage the Americans have at present, namely the much shorter time
it takes to deliver machines from America as compared to the time of delivery from England.