Research Needed - November 1936

[Ric Gillespie]

We're trying to find documentation for a visit Earhart made to the East Coast in November 1936.  She supposedly flew the Electra to Purdue and from there to Hadley Field, New Jersey where Bell Laboratories and Western Electric worked on the radios on or about November 20th or 21st. We suspect, but we cannot yet prove, that the dorsal vee antenna was installed by Bell Labs/Western Electric at this time.

We know the airplane was at Roosevelt Field, Garden City, Long Island where it was inspected by the Bureau of Air Commerce on November 27.  (Copy of the inspection report attached.)

[Andrew M McKenna]

I have a contact at the NJ Aviation Hall of Fame Museum, my old flying club instructor, and I'll ping him with this question.

http://www.njahof.org

Andrew

[Andrew M McKenna]

Quick response from AHOF in NJ

<<<<
Andrew;
Nice hearing from you.  Amelia was at Teterboro a number of times and I'm surprised she would use Hadley for the maintenance.  Bell Labs was in Murray  Hill and Western Electric in Newark, (both clients of mine).  I'll research at AHOF; just give me a few days since I'm committed to a bunch of things.  I enjoy reading about your exploits!
Best,                    Steve     
>>>>>

[Karen Hoy]

According to the New York Times, (Social News page 25, November 11, 1936):

"Miss Amelia Earhart, the aviator, is to address a company of General Electric engineers tomorrow night at Pittsfield [Massachusetts]. At her request a dinner arranged in her honor at the Wendell Hotel was canceled."

An article from November 15, 1936 declared Earhart was "on a lecture tour" but didn't say where.

[Ric Gillespie]

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[Matt Revington]

AE was at 2 West 45th Street New York City on November 10 1936 according to aletter she sent FDR, see this link

http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/daybyday/resource/november-1936/

On November 7 she attended the Notre Dame- Navy game in Baltimore
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2009-11-15/news/0911140057_1_amelia-earhart-female-pilots-flight

[Ric Gillespie]

AE was at 2 West 45th Street New York City on November 10 1936

A similar address appears on the March 23, 1936 purchase order for the Electra.

[Matt Revington]

I have been able to find several businesses listed for 2 west 45th street from the 20s through the 40s ( it was an office building with many tenants), the list includes a couple of publishers.

The 50 west 45th Street address was probably a hotel, there is no 50 west today (according to google street view) but I found a post card from the 1970s on eBay at that address for the Hotel Seymour.

[Ric Gillespie]

I wonder if Putnam had offices at 2 West 45th.  A hotel (Hotel Seymour?) base of business operations makes sense for 50 West 45th. AE and GP were living in North Hollywood, CA  in 1936.  Putnam still had the house in Rye, NY but Rye is well outside the city.

[Matt Revington]

Amelia spent some of that November sitting for a portrait.  There is a letter in the Purdue archive from illustrator Neysa Mcmein dated Nov 25 (no year) , the letter says the drawing of AE has been accepted by McCalls so she will not have to sit anymore, since Mcmein was based in New York and the sketch appeared on the cover of the May 1937 McCalls I think it is a safe bet to date this to Nov 1936.
The note also mentions AE lending her a pin and a promise to return it the following Monday afternoon ( Nov 30)
http://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/earhart/id/937/rec/123

[Daniel R. Brown]

Various newspaper reports place her in Syracuse, New York, on Saturday, November 14. After that:

MISS EARHART BACK AT WORK
LAFAYETTE, Ind., Nov. 19.—(UP.)—Amelia Earhart was back at the controls of her "Flying Laboratory" today after concluding an extensive lecture tour. Miss Earhart will take the plane to South Bend later this week to confer with Vincent Bendix, president of the Bendix Aviation corporation, concerning a new "homing" instrument and other equipment. Later she will fly to New York for adjustments to the plane's radio apparatus, after which she will head for the west coast. She will make a brief stop at Purdue, where she is a member of the faculty, en route west. (The Hammond [Indiana] Times, Thursday, November 19, 1936)

PERSONALS
Miss Maxine Lerch, 1325 George street, has returned from South Bend where she visited with relatives and met Ruckins "Bo" McKneely, Amelia Earhart's mechanic. Miss Earhart and her husband, George Putnam, guests of Vincent Bendlx at the Northwestern-Notre Dame football game, posed by their plane for snapshots taken by Miss Lerch before they took off for New York Sunday. (Logansport [Indiana] Pharos-Tribune, Wednesday, November 25, 1936)

AMELIA EARHART ON FLIGHT WESTWARD
(Associated Press Leased Wire) NEW YORK, Dec. 5.-Amelia Earhart left Roosevelt Field today for Burbank, after denying that she had any plans for a major flight. She was flying her twin-engined plane, "The Flying Laboratory," and was accompanied by Mrs Floyd Odhum, the former Jacqueline Cochran, aviator, and by a mechanic. Miss Earhart said they planned a leisurely flight to the coast. (The Bakersfield [California] Californian, Saturday, December 5, 1936) [Other articles published on December 6 specifically name the mechanic, R.D. McKneely]


I don't see anything in the on-line newspaper archives about a stop at Purdue on the way back from New York. She was in St. Louis on December 8, Amarillo on December 9 and Burbank on December 10.

Dan Brown, #2408

[Matt Revington]

 AE with Vincent Bendix (I thinks it's Bendix) at South Bend Airport from:

http://flysbn.com/sbn/history/

[Ric Gillespie]

AE with Vincent Bendix (I thinks it's Bendix) at South Bend Airport from:

That's actually Bendix PR man Herbert Sharlock.  The photo was taken on or about November 23. 

[Ric Gillespie]

MISS EARHART BACK AT WORK
LAFAYETTE, Ind., Nov. 19.—(UP.)—Amelia Earhart was back at the controls of her "Flying Laboratory" today after concluding an extensive lecture tour. Miss Earhart will take the plane to South Bend later this week to confer with Vincent Bendix, president of the Bendix Aviation corporation, concerning a new "homing" instrument and other equipment.

Great work Dan. Later events had caused me to suspect a meeting with Vince Bendix about a new product he was about to introduce.

[Matt Revington]

Tom King has already identified those 45th street addresses in his blog

"They were at GP Putnam and Sons, 2 W. 45th street - corner of 5th avenue. There was a hotel at 50 W. 45th, the Seymour where AE got telegrams sent to her - Apparently they maintained a suite there as well. (NOTE: there's a Guest Quarters Hotel at 40 W. 45th, which looks like it's an old building, and there are pix of it)."

http://earhartresearch.blogspot.ca/2009/01/background-info-gp-and-fred-noonan.html