Cloud cover
The plane stopped first in Paris to be refuelled by British Air Ministry ground staff, but at the next stop in Lyons (and later stops), these staff did not appear, forcing Yates and the other airmen to refuel alone. The airfield at Marseilles was covered with boulders, blowing two of the plane's tires on landing, and during lunch the crew's map was stolen. They next went to Pisa, where Yates was forced to navigate based on the Leaning Tower due to the heavy cloud cover. The crew stayed up all night to overhaul the plane's engine. Cloud cover also complicated landings at Rome and Taranto, and on several occasions en route the plane nearly struck Italian mountain ranges.