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[Jerry Germann]

You have probably already researched this, ......do you have the timeline concerning the appearance and disappearance of this light?

[Ric Gillespie]

You have probably already researched this, ......do you have the timeline concerning the appearance and disappearance of this light?

That "light" is the faired loop antenna for the Hooven/Bendix Radio Compass that was installed in October 1936 and removed in early March 1937. I've actually been trying to date that particular photo.  When did AE get that Cord automobile?

[Martin X. Moleski, SJ]

That "light" is the faired loop antenna for the Hooven/Bendix Radio Compass that was installed in October 1936 and removed in early March 1937. I've actually been trying to date that particular photo.  When did AE get that Cord automobile?

A caption for that photo reads: "Amelia Earhart with her Electra 10E, NR16020, at Lockheed Aircraft Company, Burbank, California, December 1936. Earhart’s automobile is a light blue 1936 Cord 810 convertible. (The Autry National Center Museum, Automobile Club of Southern California Archives)"

Source: "This Day in Aviation."

Also in "The Autry Museum" website, copyright 2011.

"The picture was included in a web exhibition on Southern California's long and special relationship with aviation at the Autry National Center website."

[Patrick Dickson]

there may be some clues to when Amelia acquired the Cord here;    http://acdclub.org/forums/21/1475

[Ricker H Jones]

You're right.  It looks like the information is available from the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles which shows Amelia as the original owner of her Cord.

[Ric Gillespie]

A caption for that photo reads: "Amelia Earhart with her Electra 10E, NR16020, at Lockheed Aircraft Company, Burbank, California, December 1936.

Thanks Marty. Assuming that the December 1936 date is correct, this photo shows that at that time the various window modifications had not been made. The barred cabin windows are still present and the window in the cabin door had not been installed. Presumably the large lavatory window on the starboard side was done at the same time as the other window changes but we can't be sure of that. 
The next datable photo we have was taken on February 8, 1937 by which time the airplane had new cabin windows and a window in the door.  Earhart was about to depart Burbank for the east coast where she would announce her world flight at the Barclay Hotel in New York on February 12.
So, with a date for this photo we have good reason to beleive that the cabin windows were replaced between December 1936 and early February 1937. The spec for the cabin windows changed on 1-15-37.

[Ric Gillespie]

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[Jerry Germann]

http://e-archives.lib.purdue.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/earhart/id/2611/rec/418
 
The content of this memo; along with locations mentioned and notably the X designation ..10"?...2' 15" ?... does anyone know what these numbers are describing?

[Bill Mangus]

Flight time?

Could be a note to herself as a reminder to catch-up her logbook.

[Jerry Germann]

Nice piece of history anyway. You are probably right about the numbers Bill, any idea who wrote the memo?

[Bill Mangus]

I'm betting it's AE's handwriting.  Looking for her letter to Mrs Roosevelt requesting her help, so we can compare handwriting from a known sample.  (Just saw it posted recently--be darned if I can find it now!)

[Jerry Germann]

Here's my new chronology based on the new information from Macleod's logbook.

. 

Sunday, August 2, 1936
According to a newspaper article, Earhart and McLeod make a 1 hour and 55 minute flight to Mills Field, San Francisco but there is no such flight in McLeod’s log book. Apparently Earhart is Pilot In Command. Until a new application can be submitted the airplane must carry the only registration number that has been approved, X16020.

According to McLeod’s log book, that same day he makes an hour and a half test flight in CFAZY, Model 10A c/n1063 built for Canadian Airlines. Apparently he made that flight earlier in the day.

Monday, August 3, 1936
Earhart and McLeod fly the Electra across the bay to Alameda to see Elmer Dimity’s big parachute and fog dispeller. This is apparently the only time the plane is photographed while displaying the X16020 registration.  They return to Burbank that afternoon.  It was a busy day for McLeod. He then delivered CFAZY to Las Vegas and brought it back to Burbank.  Apparently the Las Vegas delivery was a standard sales tax dodge.

 

Aug 2nd,
The memo seems to conflict with flight time in the newspaper article,.... 1 Hour 55 minutes , compared to the memo's time of 2 Hours 15 minutes.

[Bill Mangus]

I found this website while looking for some information on Paul Mantz.  It gives a good snapshot of the scope and scale of the airport operations during the time AE was there.  There are even a few pictures but none of NR16020.

http://wesclark.com/burbank/batchelor.html

Do we know where AE kept the aircraft while she was there?  Was she given or did she rent hanger space from Lockheed?  From Mantz?  Bo McKneeley would have needed tools and ramp equipment to do maintenance.  Where did he get them and what, if any, records may have been kept?

[Ric Gillespie]

Do we know where AE kept the aircraft while she was there?

All indications are that she kept the airplane with Paul Mantz Air Service.

[Jerry Germann]

I'm not sure if these questions are in the correct thread, they may be better suited for research needed,....I tried to research these for myself here first, but if they have been covered here before, I just didn't find the correct site. It was mentioned that the Earhart Electra was the only example found thus far that had bars across the rear windows. In noting changes that occured to the Electra over it's short life,.... I was curious as to the lettering that appears aft of the door in this Purdue Files Image. So,.....Where, What, Why,??? are my questions,if this is the Earhart Electra?