 SCADTA lobbied hard for landing rights in the Panama Canal Zone, ostensibly to survey air routes for a connection to the United States, which the Air Corps viewed as a precursor to a possible German aerial threat to the canal.Arnold and Spaatz drew up the prospectus for Pan American when SCADTA hired a company in Delaware to obtain air mail contracts from the US government.Pan American was able to obtain the US mail delivery contract to Cuba, but lacked any aircraft to perform the job and did not have landing rights in Cuba.