X16020

[Ric Gillespie]

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?

Well that's a strange one!  Yes, it's definitely c/n 1055.  You can see not only the barred windows but also one of the fueling ports on the side of the fuselage. But why the big "E", or is it a "B"?  Those guys seem to be about to board the plane carrying charts.  What is AE carrying in her hand?

What's the Purdue code for this photo?  I couldn't find it in the Purdue e-archives site.

[Bruce Thomas]

So,.....Where, What, Why,??? are my questions,if this is the Earhart Electra?

Try as I might, I haven't found a photo of NR16020 with its registration written large aft of the cabin door. So I, too, wonder if that's a picture of Earhart's Electra. Maybe Amelia was just inspecting someone else's Electra. That initial letter looks like an "E" to me. Could she be seen visiting an aircraft registered in Spain (EC) or Ireland (EI)?

I did find a photo in the Purdue collection where Amelia is sitting in the cabin doorway of a Guinea Airways' Lockheed Electra, and that one does have its registration written aft of the cabin door ... but the straight horizontal lines in Jerry's photo don't seem to match the registration of the Guinea Airways Electra.

[Ric Gillespie]

So I, too, wonder if that's a picture of Earhart's Electra.

Bars in the windows.  Fueling port on the fuselage.  It's definitely Earhart's ship during the time it was marked R16020.
I'd love to see a larger copy of the photo.  Who are those guys?  Does that big letter have something to do with the Bendix race? 

[Ric Gillespie]

Wait a minute.  Could that be Helen Richey carrying the charts?  This looks like flash photography taken at night.  Earhart and Richey started the Bendix race in the wee hours of Sept. 4.  Could this be them boarding the airplane for the start of the race?
Big letters or numbers on the side of a vehicle (car, boat or plane) is usually for identification in a race.

[Jerry Germann]

Here is the link to that photo in the Purdue Files, sorry ,should have included it in my original post ;
http://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/earhart/id/279/rec/718

[Jerry Germann]

Wait a minute.  Could that be Helen Richey carrying the charts?  This looks like flash photography taken at night.  Earhart and Richey started the Bendix race in the wee hours of Sept. 4.  Could this be them boarding the airplane for the start of the race?
Big letters or numbers on the side of a vehicle (car, boat or plane) is usually for identification in a race.

I bet that is Helen Richey,....here is another;  http://explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgId=1-2-13BB

[Ric Gillespie]

Yeah, that's Helen and the bottle AE is carrying seems to be "Collyrium," an eye medication with an eye-cup built into the stopper.  There's a bottle in the Luke Field inventory, Item 67.

[Bill Mangus]

. . . and the gentleman in the middle is probably Bo Mckneeley.

Here's the other picture.  Best shot of Bo yet.

[Bruce Thomas]

Wait a minute.  Could that be Helen Richey carrying the charts?  This looks like flash photography taken at night.  Earhart and Richey started the Bendix race in the wee hours of Sept. 4.  Could this be them boarding the airplane for the start of the race?
Big letters or numbers on the side of a vehicle (car, boat or plane) is usually for identification in a race.

I bet that is Helen Richey,....here is another;  http://explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgId=1-2-13BB

"Helen Richey ... with Amelia Earhart, before their transatlantic flight in the Bendix Trophy race, 1936."

Transatlantic. Transcontinental. Transsubstantiation. Transsomethingorother. Transwhatever.

[Greg Daspit]

Reverse image of Bo Mckneely, cabin door and lavatory door

[Ric Gillespie]

Reverse image of Bo Mckneely, cabin door and lavatory door

Here's the photo right-way-'round.  I'd love to know when this was taken.  The window is in the door so it's after January 1937. It's before Miami because the special supports for the "bug-catching" pole are not there yet (they were supposedly added in Miami).  Is that Fred visible through the window?  If so, then it's after March 12 when Noonan first comes on the scene.  There are what appear to be maps and charts sitting on the auxiliary battery so it looks like they're getting ready to go somewhere. But there is no navigator's table visible.  Could this be the departure for Miami on May 21?   If so it would confirm my suspicion that the navigator's table was not reinstalled when the plane was repaired.

[Andrew M McKenna]

What is the thing right in front of his knee?

Sextant box?  probably too small for a Brandis, but...


Andrew

[Ric Gillespie]

What is the thing right in front of his knee?

Sextant box?  probably too small for a Brandis, but...

Way too small for any kind of sextant box.

[Matt Revington]

I'm curious about the riveted aluminum behind Mckneely, it's hard to judge the angle but shouldn't that be the back of the other door.  I don't remember aluminum riveted to the inside of the frame in other photos.  If this is non standard installation it could be another candidate for the source of 2-2-V-1

[Ric Gillespie]

I'm curious about the riveted aluminum behind Mckneely, it's hard to judge the angle but shouldn't that be the back of the other door.  I don't remember aluminum riveted to the inside of the frame in other photos.  If this is non standard installation it could be another candidate for the source of 2-2-V-1

I think that's the back of the open lavatory door.  Standard structure, and the rivet pattern is nothing like 2-2-V-1.