.manifest file and @font-face, iOS device, how to make it work? or graceful fallback?

.manifest file and @font-face, iOS device, how to make it work? or
graceful fallback?

I am developing a web app. Primarily for use on iPad mini. Saving webpage
to home screen for easy access by the user.
There are a number of fonts that I want to use that I am including via the
@font-face CSS rule.
In the event that a user isn't connected to the internet, I still want the
app to display properly, so I've included a .manifest file that asks the
device to download all necessary resources. Some of these resources
include .ttf and .otf typefaces.
Up until now, the .manifest file has worked famously in allowing me to
store on the user's device, any necessary documents and image resources.
While working my way through my directories of files I've now arrived at
my fonts folder. As soon as I include a .ttf or .otf file in my .manifest
file and try to open the app while disconnected from the internet, the
iPad tells me that it cannot connect to the internet and thus cannot open
the app. I hit retry and it loads the document but it is a big cascade of
elements, totally un-styled, and generally doesn't work at all. In short,
unacceptable.
It looks to me that including a .ttf or .otf file type breaks the
.manifest file for some reason. Does anybody know how to make this work?
If I simply don't include the .ttf or .otf files in the manifest document,
even when I am connected to the internet it doesn't display the typefaces
for some reason. So it seems to me that the .manifest document really
takes control of what the user sees and what he doesn't. Is there a way to
just use standard fonts as a fallback (currently have implemented and
working), but also if the user is connected to the internet allow the
display of the fonts included by the @font-face rule?
Any help/insight would be greatly appreciated!