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14 Utah B. Bull. 1 (1944)

handle is hein.barjournals/utbabult0014 and id is 1 raw text is: The Utah Bar - BULLETIN Official Organ, The Utah State Bar The truth is that complexity is in our lives more indelibly than in our laus.' -MR. JUSTICE JACKSON. Volume XIV January-February, 1944 Nos. 1 & 2 Internment of Military Aviators LIEUTENANT COLONEL JOHN ALVIN CROGHAN, AIR CORPS Member of the District of Columbia Bar On the 15th of January, 1943, there landed at the Sacavem Airport near Lis- bon, Portugal, eleven P-39 fighter planes of the United States Army Air Forces. (1) Although accounts of the circumstances attendant upon the arrival were varied, it was generally believed at the time that the American warplanes, allegedly en- gaged in supporting a bomber formation, had been driven off their course by the severe storms then prevailing over the Iberian Peninsula, until finally, with their fuel nearly expended, they were forced to alight on Portuguese territory. All of the aircraft were reported seized intact, (2) and the eleven pilots were de- livered to Portuguese officials for intern- ment in the fortress of Elvas, near the Spanish frontier. (1) The New York Times, Vol. XCII, No. 31,038, p. 1. (2) One American pilot, on landing, attempted to destroy his ship by hurling a grenade against its side. The missile, however, failed to explode. Several days thereafter, a prominent commentator on military affairs, analyzing the incident, asserted that the interned air- craft were not engaged in escorting bombardment aviation, but actually con- stituted a ferrying movement of fighter airplanes in transit from Britain to North Africa.(3) The point was advanced to illustrate the fact that single engine fighter airplanes then had achieved a stage of development and technical performance enabling them to undertake extended over- seas hops. Irrespective of the mission upon which the United States aircraft were involved, their ultimate arrival in neutral Portugal, and their seizure by officials of that coun- try, focuses attention upon the application of the law of internment to military air- craft. It is believed to be the right of a State, generally, to enact such prohibitions, re- strictions, and regulations as it may deem (3) Hanson Baldwin in the New York Times, Vol. XCII, No. 31042.

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