At the peak of the storm the steel chains attaching the mast cables to the screw stakes failed on the windward side, thrusting the mast into the side of the ship, cutting a hole in the fabric. Boettner pulled out the rip panel, deflating the ship to prevent further damage and when the storm passed rolled up the bag, loaded it and the control car aboard a truck, shipped it into Akron where a new bag was attached. The Puritan was back at work within a week. No wonder Goodyear pilots came to have great faith in the staunchness of their craft, and their ability to get out of trouble. Fuel exhaustion didn’t bother the blimp. Fickes found that out early, at Wingfoot Lake, when a leak developed in his tank and emptied it. Free ballooning his ship he floated over a farm house, asked them to call the office, waited aloft till a truck came out with additional fuel. Boettner had a similar difficulty while returning from Canada in the Defender. Persistent headwinds cut down his fuel and when he reached the American shore around midnight it was a question whether he could go on as far as Akron. Picking up U. S. Highway Five as being heavily traveled, he swung low over an adjoining field, slowed down so that his mechanic could drop off, flag a passing car and go into town for gas. By the time the aide returned a number of cars had parked alongside. Driving into the field, with headlights full on they formed a half circle, and the drivers caught the lines, held the ship till the fuel could be delivered, and Boettner proceeded on to Wingfoot Lake. Mishaps there were of course, in all these years, but few were serious. Lange snagged a lone dead tree in the fog over the Alabama mountains and Smith side-swiped another while flying over a pass in Tennessee. The ship settled easily to the ground in each instance, and farmers came in with stone boats, carried the car and bag to town for repairs. Brannigan, returning at night from Syracuse, ran short of gasoline, directed his ground crew to land him in an open field ahead. The ship nosed down, his aide directing the men with his flashlight. But just at this juncture the top of the flashlight fell off into the propeller, was whipped into the bag like a bullet, started a leak which was not discovered till next day. Most ships in the Goodyear fleet have been fired on by thoughtless hunters. Once a bullet went through a ship a few inches back of the pilot. One marksman was arrested and sent to jail in Florida. Pilot Trotter had a curious experience in Oklahoma in 1935, while on his way to the Dallas fair. The ship had been on the mast for three days waiting for weather. On the fourth morning, finding the ship rather sluggish, Trotter looked around. A glass window from the cabin gives a view of the interior of the bag and as Trotter looked he saw light blinking from 14 bullet holes—through which gas had been pouring for three days!