151 URGENT SECRET (0405/2/2) B RITISH AGENCY SHARJAH, MARCH, 8TH, L950. Dear Mr. Pelly, On 6thMarch, two Skymasters aircraft landed at Sharjah to refuel carrying between them, 115 Jewish Soviet citizens who were travelling fromHong Kong to Lydda Palestine. 2. were owned by Near East Air Transport Co. (250West 57th Street, New York City) and had U.S. crews. 3. TheSeniorCaptain,CaptainMullineauxproducedbefore theStationSuperintendent International Aeradio Ltd., a general flight visa authorizing the passengers of the two aircraft to fly via India and Sharjah. This document apparently bore the seal of some British authority in Hong Kong. 4. No reference was made to me regarding these aircraft and I suggest that they probably landed without permission. Yours Sincerely Sd. P.D. Stobart”. Mr Pelly in turn forwarded this letter to the ForeignMinistry, London.6 The Jewish emigrees were transferred via Sharjah by the Near East Air Transport Co., registered in New York, U.S. Most emigrees carried no identification documents. The landings in Sharjah were also conducted without proper permissions. As a result, the US Near East Air Transport Co. personnel were worried that those activities were in breach of the Bermuda Agreement.* 6 Ibid THE SONGS OF THE CITY * The Bermuda Agreement, reached in 1964, was between the government of the United Kingdom and the government of the United States, relating to Air Services between their respective Territories. It was an early bilateral air transport agreement regulating civil air transport. (wikipedia).
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