Meanwhile, Mildred Doran, Auggy Pedlar, and navigator Manley Lawing were flying into Oakland on August 6 when their aircraft developed engine trouble due to fouled spark plugs. They successfully landed near Mendota in a wheat field in the San Joaquin Valley, but damaged the landing gear in the process and had trouble making repairs because they no longer had any tools. Doran went to Modesto, California to secure tools and a mechanic; she quipped "We threw tools off at Long Beach because they were in the way and cluttering things up." Lawing, chief aerographer and meteorologist at Naval Air Station North Island, was later replaced by Vilas R. Knope when Lawing could not satisfy the race committee of his navigational skills. He reportedly got lost over Oakland.