After long negotiations , an accord was established between Portugal and Great Britain ( 1 August 1943 ) , which conceded the facilities at Air Base 4 and Lajes for use by British forces to base their North Atlantic anti-submarine patrols . In exchange , the Portuguese received six squadrons of Hawker Hurricanes . By this time , in 1942 , Humberto Delgado was appointed Air Force representative to the Anglo-Portuguese working group . Conscious of the geostrategic importance of the Azores to trans-Atlantic flight , Delgado recommended to Salazar that one of the two air bases ( Santa Maria or Lajes ) should be converted into a trans-Atlantic airport and centre for air traffic control , while noting : " If Your Excellency wishes to decide which airport , I would say Lajes will do , but everyone , even the British , consider Santa Maria better " . For his efficiency in the commission , the British government , decorated Humberto Delgado with the Order of the British Empire , since the officer had risked his career and future on the Allied cause . Between 15 – 18 May 1943 , the '' Trident '' conference to approve an Allied strategy on the Azores . It was followed by the Quebec Conference between August 11 and 30 , in which U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the British Prime Minister agreed that Great Britain would enter the Azores with Portuguese authorization , followed by the United States , two weeks later . On 10 September , a combined British force , under the command of Air Marshall G.R. Bromet , departed from Liverpool in the direction of the island of Terceira
Quebec Conference
First Quebec Conference
Aviation in the Azores