[8827Echo]

It ain't nonsense.

Taken from Second World War New Edition by Martin Gilbert, Page 67 (middle of the page):

Unable to breach American neutrality by shipping aircraft to Britain uncrated and ready to fly, Roosevelt himself proposed, on the night of May 15, a way round a surviving provision in the Neutrality Act. This was to fly the aircraft to the American side of the Canadian border, 'push' them across the border, then fly them on to Newfoundland, where they could by put on board a ship. 'We already know', Purvis reported to London, 'this method is legal and feasible.'