Martin Jensen and Robert Fowler competed over the purchase rights for the same Breese-Wilde Model 5; Jensen won that race after his wife Margaret raised US$15,000 from local backers in Honolulu, and Jensen took delivery of "Aloha" on August 8. Fowler, left without an airplane for the contest, was forced to withdraw. Because "Aloha" was only completed when the race was nearly about to begin, the preparations for the contest were rushed; the fuel tanks on "Aloha" only held and the original plan was to add sufficient spare fuel capacity via forty-nine portable containers, requiring the navigator to fill the central tank, then transfer fuel to the tank in use via a hand pump; the plane was later retrofitted with a tank, obviating the need for the complicated refueling plan, which would have required the passing of written messages between the two men.