After an extra day spent in Bandoeng, the flight took off again on June 27. "I had hoped to be able to keep on to Port Darwin on the northern coast of Australia. But the penalty for flying east is losing hours." So the flight for the day would be roughly 1,200 miles to Koepang, leaving at their usual time - dawn.
Koepang is situated on the southern tip Timor and at the time half of the country was under Portuguese control.
The first 400 miles of the flight took Amelia and Fred over "the lovely garden-land of Java," then briefly over Bali, Sumbawa Island, Flores and then cut across the arm of the Arafura Sea. "As we left Java the geographic characteristics began to change. From lust tropics the countryside became progressively arid." After five hours the Electra arrived in Koepang, the airfield surrounded by a stone fence to keep wild pigs out. The airfield had little to no facilities except one small little shed used for storing fuel. The Electra was staked down for the night and engine and propeller covers were put on. "Our work much amused the natives from a near-by village." After spending some time sightseeing the fliers retired to the Rest House to sleep up for the hop to Australia; most considered the following flight across the Timor Sea the most dangerous due to uncertain weather conditions. Regardless of the danger, Amelia and Fred must have been itching to get home; after Port Darwin the only stops that remained were Lae, Howland Island, and Honolulu before the flight back to Oakland.
Arizona Daily Star, Sunday, June 27, 1937
The Monitor, Sunday, June 27, 1937
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