There has been some discussion on this Forum and others about how the dust covers are listed on the Luke Field inventory taken after the crash in Hawaii as "cover plates for wheels" show that Earhart's Electra had the dust covers installed. I've spent some time looking at that inventory, found here:
http://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Documents/Luke_Field.htmland have some impressions with regards to these "cover plates".
On the first page of the inventory, an official RECEIPT form is used, while the subsequent pages are "loose sheets" titled by Sheet No. 1, 2, etc. The RECEIPT has all the large items for the aircraft, fuselage, engines, wings, tail feathers, and of interest is Item #5 - "Two (2) Landing gear forks with wheels & tires"
It struck me odd that the "cover plates for wheels" found on Sheet No. 3 are listed separately from the rest of the landing gear on the fist page RECEIPT.
Look at the items adjacent to the cover plates on the list from Sheet No. 3
spare cans of lubrication
spare brake fluid
Carton of spare propellor bearings
Base Plate for speed and drift meter
Pkg of rubber vent covers
Cover plates for wheels
Snap ring
Control column Wheel
2 pcs of sheet metal Alcoa
Etc
Most of these items seem like spare parts, and I think these cover plates were spares as well.
Why are they listed separately from the landing gear while other components of the landing gear are not singled out, such as the mud fender? Note also that the gear forks still had their wheels and tires on them, as found on the RECEIPT. How to you get the dust covers off the wheel to be inventoried separately when the wheel and tires are still on the forks?
If the cover plates for wheels are the same as the dust covers, all this indicates is that there were some spares aboard during the first attempt. That doesn't mean they weren't installed or carried as spares on the second attempt, just that the Luke Field inventory may not support that conclusion. The photos will tell the tale there.
If the cover plates for wheels are not the same as dust covers, what are they?
Andrew