The aircraft seen as the "Fletcher Airline" plane is a Lockheed 12, N60775, owned at the time by noted Hollywood motion picture pilot, Paul Mantz. Mantz supervised the aerial work on the early Sky King episodes and also owned and flew King's Cessna T-50/UC-78 "Songbird".
This particular Lockheed was sold as an airliner in the U.S., but was re-acquired by Lockheed as a prototype for a bomber version (which several were sold to the Dutch East Indies before WWII). Mantz bought the aircraft from Lockheed in 1946. In this episode, you can see a large metal patch atop the fuselage just behind the passenger door, that is where a gun turret was fitted during its time as a military prototype. Its registration was later changed to N16020, the number used by Amelia Earhart's similar Lockheed 12, the plane she disappeared in. Mantz was the technical advisor for her Ill-fated round the world 1937 flight.
This particular Lockheed was sold as an airliner in the U.S., but was re-acquired by Lockheed as a prototype for a bomber version (which several were sold to the Dutch East Indies before WWII). Mantz bought the aircraft from Lockheed in 1946. In this episode, you can see a large metal patch atop the fuselage just behind the passenger door, that is where a gun turret was fitted during its time as a military prototype. Its registration was later changed to N16020, the number used by Amelia Earhart's similar Lockheed 12, the plane she disappeared in. Mantz was the technical advisor for her Ill-fated round the world 1937 flight.