Thank you all for the information supplied. Spurred on by a Private Message (not sure if the sender wanted me to make them known)
Two images of the Stearman cockpits.
Rear one shows what looks like a hard-fitted nav pad
Front one is a readily removeable (velcro fastened) nav pad.
Ewald appears to have been the main navigator on these flights and removed his kit at the end of each leg. This could serve two purposes, one is to allow off-aircraft programming of the next leg and also mask the idea that someone up front was doing more than suggested.
The winds at L2K were NE'ly at about 10knots. So almost across the runway.
https://www.wunderground.com/history...ic=&reqdb.wmo=
Charleville, with a similar oriented runway had similar conditions
https://www.wunderground.com/history...ic=&reqdb.wmo=
May I ask someone with more knowledge of LA flying to check this for me please and put a pilot perspective on it. If I am right then she couldn't get in to L2K because of crosswinds but managed to get into Charleville with the same crosswinds.