I’m intrigued by an apparent modification to the hatch over the cockpit in AE’s L10-E. The
Harney drawings show that hatch to be hinged at the centerline on the top of the aircraft. And just about every other picture or video I’ve seen agrees with that. An accident photo taken at Luke Field shows the opened hatch is hinged at the centerline, and a picture of the Electra in Venezuela shows the same thing.
But at some point in time the hatch seems to have been awkwardly hinged at its outer edge over the pilot’s side window. This is seen
in a video (I do not know where or when it was shot — but the sequence involving the hatch begins at 00:52), showing AE swinging her legs over the roof behind the hatch and then sliding down into the pilot’s seat. The assumption is that this is AE’s aircraft and not some other L10 — could AE have been involved in a photoshoot using someone else’s L10 Electra?
I wonder if there exists, in the vast expanse of documents maintained by TIGHAR, any mention of this minor change in the structure of the aircraft? Or might this be just another modification without a record?