The first official entrant, announced on June 28, was Arthur C. Goebel. Another early entrant was Dick Grace, who shipped his plane to San Francisco shortly after he crashed his Cruzair, forcing him to abandon a Kauai to San Francisco attempt in June. At the time, both Grace and Goebel were better known as founding members of the "Thirteen Flying Black Cats", nicknamed the "Suicide Squadron", a Hollywood stunt pilot association started in 1922; that group's exploits were dramatized in the 1932 film "The Lost Squadron". The two stuntmen were quickly joined by other contestants as the August 2 entry deadline approached.