Surabaya lay at the closed end of a large bay in the Bali Sea. The second largest city on the island of Java, it was guarded by a British garrison and a squadron of Bristol Beaufort fighters. As the Pacific Clipper approached the city, a single fighter rose to meet them. Moments later it was joined by several more. The recognition signals that Ford had received in Australia proved to be inaccurate and the big Boeing was a sight unfamiliar to the British pilots. The crew tensed as the fighters drew closer. Because of a quirk in the radio systems, they could hear the British pilots, but the pilots could not hear the Clipper. There was much discussion among them as to whether the flying boat should be shot down or allowed to land. At last the crew heard the British controller grant permission for them to land and then add, "If they do anything suspicious, shoot them out of the sky!" With great relief, Ford began a very careful approach.
As they neared the harbor, Ford could see that it was filled with warships, so he set the Clipper down in the smooth water just outside the harbor entrance. "We turned around to head back," Ford said. "There was a launch that had come out to meet us, but instead of giving us a tow or a line, they stayed off about a mile and kept waving us on. Finally, when we got farther into the harbor they came closer. It turned out that we had landed right in the middle of a minefield and they weren't about to come near us until they saw that we were through it!"
When they disembarked, the crew of the Pacific Clipper received an unpleasant surprise. They were told that they would be unable to refuel with 100 octane aviation gas. What little there was severely rationed and was reserved for the military. There was automobile gas in abundance, however, and Ford was welcome to whatever he needed.
He had no choice. The next leg of their journey would be many hours over the Indian Ocean and there was no hope of refueling elsewhere. The flight engineers, Swede Roth and Jocko Parish, formulated a plan that they hoped would work. They transferred all their remaining aviation fuel to the two fuselage tanks and filled the remaining tanks to the limit with the lower octane automobile gas.
"We took off from Surabaya on the 100 octane, climbed a couple of thousand feet, and pulled back the power to cool off the engines," said Ford "Then we switched to the automobile gas and held our breaths. The engines almost jumped out of their mounts, but they ran. We figured it was either that or leave the airplane to the Japs."
