In Last Flight AE wrote:
"Where to find the tree on which costly airplanes grow, I did not know. But I did know the kind I wanted - an Electra Lockheed, big brother to my Vegas, with, of course, Wasp engines."
But not necessarily a Model 10E "Electra Lockheed." In Putnam's original pitch to Elliott on November 11, 1935 he says:
"A plane is available with the desired requirements. It embraces refinements and improvements whose practical demonstration can be important factors in commercial aeronautical progress.
Either a stock model will be purchased or a ship built especially. That can be decided only after careful comparison of the two proposals. For this “custom-built” job the engineering has already been done. It is not an “experimental” ship, but a development of proved design, power plant, etc. Unless the finished product fulfilled pre-determined requirements, delivery would not be taken.
The contemplated ship would have a maximum speed, at average altitudes, in excess of 225 miles an hour. With two pilots and full fuel load, its cruising range exceeds 6000 miles. It would be capable of sustained flight on one motor. I would, of course, have special tanks, instruments, and other devices."
The airplane he's talking about is the Model 12 Electra Junior then being designed for a Bureau of Air Commerce competition for a "feeder-liner" to serve small commercial markets. The Model 12 was a scaled down Model 10 that used the same 450 hp Wasp Jr. engines (P&W R-985) as the Model 10A. It was to be a real hot-rod with an anticipated top speed of 225 mph at 5,000 feet but the 6,000 mile range Putnam mentioned was pure fantasy. The engineering had been done but it was still a paper airplane. The first prototype would not fly until June 1936. Until mid-February 1936 the plan was for AE to make her world flight in a Model 12 (wait for it....) on pontoons. The problem was, the floats were going to be hideously expensive. When Lockheed said they could guarantee a 4,500 mile range for a modified Model 10E Putnam and Mantz went for the bigger airplane. Earhart appears to have been almost completely disengaged from the whole process.