Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. He opened his instructions labelled "Plan A" and learned that he was to land at Auckland and await further instructions. Extended points Auckland: Ford received a message from Flight Operations of Pan American to not return through the war zone but to strip all external identification from his aircraft and to proceed westward as soon as his judgment allowed and return to Laguardia Field in New York. The plan designed by Ford and his officers was to begin by flying to Sydney, Australia. While preparing for departure, Ford received additional instructions to return to Nouméa and evacuate all Pan American personnel and their families to Gladstone, Queensland, Australia. Ford ordered his crew to suspend stripping the markings from the fuselage and to disassemble two spare engines and to load them onto NC18602 as insurance. The aircraft departed for New Caledonia in the dark. Nouméa: The aircraft landed at Pan American's Nouméa base early in the morning of December 16, 1941. Airline operations had ordered that an additional engine, in a crate, be transported to Karachi, British India. The crew loaded the engine, took on the airline employees and their families, and left for Gladstone later on December 16 Gladstone: NC18602 arrived in Gladstone the same day. Ford was disappointed to learn that no 100 octane aviation fuel was available. At Gladstone, First Engineer Rothe recommended that Ford ask two aircraft mechanics who had been assigned to Nouméa to stay with the aircraft until it arrived in New York. Ford offered the mechanics flight pay if they would continue; both agreed. The ground manager at Gladstone managed to find $500 (U.S.) for Ford so the captain would be able to buy supplies. Darwin, Australia: Ford was able to acquire aviation fuel in Darwin but it was stored in cans and had to be manually transferred to the tanks of the aircraft; that task was completed early in the morning of December 18, 1941. Ford taxied into the channel and took off, bound for Surabaya, Netherlands East Indies as the Sun rose. Surabaya: NC18602 was intercepted by aircraft of the Royal Dutch Air Force, which followed the aircraft until Ford landed in a nonthreatening manner. The base had an insufficient supply of aviation fuel to provide the 100 octane product but was able to provide 76 octane automobile gasoline. While the Pan American aircraft was at Surabaya, the