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[Ric Gillespie]

My best guess - By the end of the Bendix race the paint on the cowlings was beat up and starting to flake off. Easiest to just strip it off rather than have it look tatty.

[Jerry Germann]

The author of this book;
 https://books.google.com/books?id=tsd2AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=mantz+painting+earhart+plane&source=bl&ots=trRaWQlyB6&sig=lmNae2RiYhG_QJ3qpAilmv6jtqw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjB1-CohbfLAhVsk4MKHR5bAugQ6AEIIjAB#v=onepage&q=mantz%20painting%20earhart%20plane&f=false

seems to give me the impression that Amelia was caught in-between two guys with differing opinions,( to be a fly on the wall, when these two guys were going at it) and so she just decided to go in the middle and get rid of the applied paint and leave it bare until and maybe,.... air regulations required some sort of bright color be applied to the plane when going long distances and over water. I will look for some rules pertaining to that from the era.

[Ric Gillespie]

maybe,.... air regulations required some sort of bright color be applied to the plane when going long distances and over water. I will look for some rules pertaining to that from the era.

I don't think you'll find any.  The orange markings on NR16020 may have been inspired by the markings used by Pan Am on their Martin M-130 Clippers then in service on the Pacific routes.

[Jeff Lange]

Came home this afternoon and turned on the television and to my surprise on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) at 3:00 pm. EST what should be airing but Love on the Run! So I caught the last 2/3 of the film, but missed the scenes with the Electra in them :-(