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[Sheila Shigley]

Forwarding this:

JL28Moore@aol.com
Sent: Fri, January 13, 2012 11:21:46 PM
Subject: Amelia Earhart Rim

Hi, I'm wondering how would I go about finding information on a rim that was possibly on Amelia Earhart's plane in 1937? It was changed during a stop in Oakland by my great grandfather. I have pictures of it, and it also has a metal plaque with model number and other information such as Hayes Industries Inc. Date Manufactured - 2/8/1937, Model # 1102 A, Static Ld. (max) 5000, A.T.C.# 10.
 
My name is Jennifer Cheshier
My number is 661-342-3830.
 
Thank you!

[Ric Gillespie]

Rim?? What kind of "rim?"  A wheel rim?  NR16020 didn't have wheel rims unless she's talking about the wheel itself.  "Static Ld. [Load?] (max) 5000 [lbs?]" sounds about right for an Electra wheel.  But why would a wheel need to be changed in Oakland?

[Alfred Hendrickson]

Says she has pictures of it! I wanna see 'em!

[Russ Matthews]

Says she has pictures of it! I wanna see 'em!

Check them out here ...

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=44071

[Irvine John Donald]

Says she has pictures of it! I wanna see 'em!

Check them out here ...

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=44071

I don't think that rim shown in the links above are the same diameter as the ones shown on the Electra. Look at the pictures shown in the above link. I believe diameter would be 14" based on second photo showing a 12" ruler not quite making the distance. The link below is from another thread, the ROV stills, and shows an 8" diameter rim.
http://tighar.org/smf/index.php/topic,571.msg8389.html#msg8389

Unless the Electra had a different rim for slimmer tires than the ones she used for the world trip. Could that be why rims were changed? Prep for the world trip?

[John Joseph Barrett]

It is interesting that there is a serial number along the edge of the wheel. I do a lot of work on old cars and have never seen a serialized wheel. Is that common for aircraft parts and would anyone have recorded the serial numbers on the wheels installed on AE's craft? I don't see where this wheel, if in fact from AE's plane, does much for the search as it would have been removed prior to the flight and we already know the type of wheels she had. It would be an interesting family heirloom and possibly valuable to a collector if it could be documented.   LTM- John

[John Joseph Barrett]

The ruler is lying across what looks to me like an attached brake drum. I can't believe a plane of that size would have an 8 inch brake drum, an 8 inch rim to mount the tire sure, but it's going to be hard to stop with brakes that small. Looking at that photo, it appears that the other side of the assembly has a smaller diameter to it. Did the airwheel rim have an attached brake drum?

[Irvine John Donald]

The ruler is lying across what looks to me like an attached brake drum. I can't believe a plane of that size would have an 8 inch brake drum, an 8 inch rim to mount the tire sure, but it's going to be hard to stop with brakes that small. Looking at that photo, it appears that the other side of the assembly has a smaller diameter to it. Did the airwheel rim have an attached brake drum?

If you do a google search on "Lockheed Electra 10 images" you get this page.
http://www.google.ca/search?q=lockheed+electra+10+images&hl=en&client=safari&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=8cMST66HLKLg0QHJj8GyDA&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=644
On this page you can see images of Electras with two different wheels and rims. The slimmer hard surface tires appear to have a larger diameter rim. The softer "fat tires" shown in most AE photos have the smaller diameter rims.

[Ric Gillespie]

The question is:
Did cn1055 (the Earhart Electra) ever have wheels that look like the wheels Ms. Chesier says her grandfather took off the airplane in Oakland at some time.
The photos here show the wheels on 1055 from an early date prior to October 1936 (only one belly antenna, no loop) until Bandoeng, Java in late June 1937.
They all show the same type of wheel and it is unlike Ms. Chesier's wheel.

[Sheila Shigley]

Background bits on Hayes (now Goodrich) company:

The Evolution of Goodrich Aircraft Wheels and Brakes

The Goodrich Aircraft Wheels and Brakes facility is located on the grounds of the original WACO Aircraft Company in Troy, Ohio which flourished in the late 1920s and set the stage for aviation to continue here well into the future.

Goodrich milestones since the 1930s:

In 1937, Goodrich provided expander tubes to Hayes Industries. The company took over the expander tube brake business, together with a number of disk brake designs, test data and patents from Hayes Industries Inc.



http://goo.gl/d6TYQ

[Sheila Shigley]

I guess it would be important to find out if "changed during a stop in Oakland" could possibly have been misconstrued from "changed when plane was reassembled in California," etc.

At any rate, here's Tighar's inventory of what was inventoried at Luke Field, HI, March 26, 1937, and listed as shipped to California [to the Lockheed facility in Burbank, California?] for repairs.:

http://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Documents/Luke_Field.html

[Russ Matthews]

From a different aircraft, but in case it gives clues to which type of wheel this lady has in her possession - here's an ad for Spitfire parts, including: "Fleet Fort Model 60K Wheels ... "

Actually, the ad is for parts from a variety of vintage plane types (including Spitfires).  However, the wheels listed for sale apparently come from a Fleet Fort Model 60K (a WWII era intermediate training aircraft designed and built in Canada) like the one pictured in the link below ...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36702396@N00/6273680179/in/photostream/

[Sheila Shigley]

Really proving difficult to find info on that particular rim; have been able to ferret out that BF Goodrich did indeed have facilities in Oakland.  Interestingly, BF Goodrich first synthesized rubber in 1937.

[Patrick Dickson]

I believe the guys at this link have it sorted out......wheel appears to be from a Model 12

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=44071

[Sheila Shigley]

I'm still thinking that "stop in Oakland" could refer somehow to the reassembly/repair, post-crash in Hawai'i.  Doesn't seem that something as drastic as changing out an entire wheel would be more likely to refer to the latter?  Also, where's the tire?  If this wheel was a keepsake, wouldn't the tire most likely be with it still, unless it was already blown off?  Is it safe to postulate--theoretically only--that if this wheel is somehow connected to AE, it came out of box #5 shipped from Luke Field, HI to California, containing "Two (2) landing gear forks with wheels & tires?"

Or is this thing absolutely (as close as we can tell) not what was on Electra before the Hawai'i crash, and would therefore have to be some replacement/upgraded wheel that was tried during repairs, and swapped out for some reason [higher takeoff weights, as someone else suggested?], in the end?

Or, of course, something from another bird altogether.

New pics have been posted, including: Wheel