City of Oakland lost credence with the media when it was forced to turn back less than an hour into the June flight because of a faulty altimeter. After quick repairs, with Army mechanics pitching in to help, a second takeoff had to be aborted when Carter complained that his navigator’s windshield was distorted, which would make celestial observations inaccurate. While that problem was being fixed, Carter announced that he would not go along because there was now no hope of beating the Army fliers.

Lieutenants Lester J. Maitland and Albert F. Hegenberger had indeed succeeded in reaching Hawaii safely, landing in Honolulu on June 29. Smith and his sponsors were frustrated at the news — especially since the Travel Air, known to be somewhat faster than the Fokker, had been forced to turn back by an equipment problem beyond their control. Their only consolation was that no civilians had as yet made the crossing, and that the 26 1/2-hour time of the Army fliers still might be beaten in the Travel Air.

The backers quickly announced plans for a second attempt, but one of them, Edmund J. Moffett, withdrew his support and threatened to get a court injunction to keep the plane on the ground. Ignoring Moffett’s threat, the rest of the sponsors went ahead with preparations for a new flight, naming a new manager, Bill Royle, and a replacement navigator. It took time to find the right men, and the choice of Emory Bronte was announced only two days before the flight was scheduled to begin.

As they prepared to face the Pacific, Smith and Bronte made all the safety precautions for the flight that their limited resources would allow. Although no ships had been stationed along their route, word had gone out to merchant vessels to be on the lookout for them. Radio operators ashore and aboard ships at sea were given the frequency of the plane’s receiver and asked to transmit any messages no faster than 10 words a minute to the inexpert operators aboard the plane.

City of Oakland carried an inflatable life raft and supplies for 10 days. It was equipped with a two-way radio to provide both navigational assistance and a safety link. The crew also had carrier pigeons on board, as a precaution and in hopes the birds would intrigue newsmen looking for a new angle to the story. Maitland and Hegenberger, meanwhile, had returned to San Francisco and were receiving a tumultuous hero’s welcome as well as enormous press coverage as City of Oakland’s flight finally got underway.

The plane was loaded with 367 gallons of fuel, in theory enough for 33 hours of flight at a cruising speed of 100 miles per hour. Although a heavy layer of fog overhung the Golden Gate, the weather was cooperating reasonably well when Smith signaled his readiness to take off that July 14 morning. Maitland and Hegenberger had come to the field and wished their former rivals luck. At 10:03 Smith taxied into position and began his takeoff. After a few hundred yards, however, the plane lurched off the side of the runway, coming to a bumpy stop as one wheel dropped into a foot-deep rut at the edge of the airstrip. Some reports indicate that the plane actually ground-looped.

No one was hurt, and after a half-hour delay, during which the Travel Air was found to be undamaged, City of Oakland went back to the starting point. The plane became airborne at 10:39 a.m. Smith circled the bay to gain altitude before heading west, but the Travel Air was still in the fog when it went over the Golden Gate.

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