MARVIN TAPLIN O'DELL

 

Altoona (PA) Mirror, May 28, 1929 (Source: Woodling)

 

M.T. O'Dell, Date Unknown (Source: ancestry.com)

Marvin O'Dell signed the Parks Airport Register once, on Wednesday, May 29, 1929. Based at Cincinnati, OH, he was apparently solo in the Cessna BW he identified as NR5579, S/N 138-A. O'Dell wrote "Parks Airport" in the destination. He was one of 33 landings at about the same time that day. He was one of many pilots competing in the qualifier heats for the annual Gardner Trophy Race. The heats originated at various cities.

The Gardner heat O'Dell participated in started in Buffalo, NY. The beginning was captured in the Altoona (PA) Mirror of May 28, 1929, right. Besides O'Dell, other competitors listed in the news article that are also signed in the Register were Willard King, Arthur Davis and Ed Hedeen. A complete listing of the other heats and their participants is at the Gardner Trophy Race link, above.

Titusville (PA) Herald, May 31, 1929 (Source: Woodling)

 

M.T. O'Dell, Ca. 1931 (Source: Woodling)

 

 

O'Dell was not included in the winner's circle for the 1929 Gardner. The Titusville (PA) Herald for May 31st, left, cited the winners. Charles W. "Speed" Holman placed first in his Laird. Sydnor Hall was second in his Travel Air. Art Davis took third place.

 

O'Dell was forced down and out of the competition due to airframe problems. Fellow competitor and Register signer D.C. Warren also dropped out. He began to fly the air mail.

 

On July 28, 1931, as he was flying the mail from Cleveland at night, he had occasion to Use his airplane to awaken a family in a burning farmhouse. The article, below, left, from the Atchison Daily Globe, Friday, August 8, 1930, Atchison, KS described the feat.

 

 

Atchison Daily Globe August 8, 1930, Atchison, Kansas (Source: Woodling)

 

 

Marvin O'Dell was born February 21, 1908 in Minnesota. He took up aviation in 1926, just three years before his entry in the Gardner Race. From 1927-1928 he studied aviation at Marshall, MO. He flew a mail route from Cleveland to Louisville, KY. He married Noy Hudgins on September 29, 1930. They had no children.

In 1920, O'Dell was eleven years old, living with his parents in a rented home on Main St. in Mintern, CO. His father, Charles O., age 44, was a "Boilermaker" for a "Steam railroad." His mother, Jessie T. (34) was not employed outside their home. He was an only child according to the U.S. Census for 1920. Curiously, there were two 1920 Census forms for O'Dell. The second one cites him living in Los Angeles, CA with just his mother. She is identified as a "Salesman" in the "Dry Goods" business.

By 1925, the family had moved to Oberlin, KS. The Kansas State Census listed his father's occupation as "Proprietor" of a "Hotel." O'Dell was 17 years old. I could find no Census information for 1930 for O'Dell.

As with more that a few Golden Age aviators, O'Dell met his end in an airplane crash. He met it on August 9, 1931 at Cincinnati, OH, Lunken Airport. The lead-up to the accident wasn't pretty. A propeller hub broke and the propeller departed the right engine of his tri-motored transport craft just after takeoff.

Without the resistance of the propeller, the engine spooled up and tore itself from its mount. Given that the airplane had just departed and was ascending through 500-feet, probably at low air speed, there just wasn't enough time for O'Dell and his co-pilot to manage the craft to a safe landing. The article below is from the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, August 10, 1931. It

SIX DIE WHEN AIR LINER CRASHES AT CINCINNATI. PILOT'S HEROIC EFFORT TO STOP CRACKUP FAILS. BROKEN PROPELLER HUB CAUSING ONE ENGINE TO TEAR LOOSE, BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN RESPONSIBLE. Cincinnati, O., Aug. 10 -- (AP) -- A pilot's desperate struggle to halt the head-long plunge of a tri-motored airplane failed to prevent its crash here yesterday and six persons were carried to instant death. The plane, bound from Cincinnati to Atlanta, Ga., had just taken off from Lunken airport when the propeller of its right-side engine came off and a moment later the engine itself tore loose and hurtled to the ground. Out of control, the big passenger plane at once started its death dive while Pilot M. T. ODELL, 23, Cincinnati, frantically strove to right it. Witnesses said ODELL apparently attempted to land the plane in a corn field at the edge of the Little Miami River, and failing in that, tried to head for a sand bar on the opposite side of the stream. Instead, however, it smashed into a clay bank, turned over nose first, tore out the entire front end, and killed all. The victims were: MISS WRENNA B. HUGHES, 22, Fort Thomas, Ky. WILLIAM E. KEITH, Atlanta, Ga. W. H. BRIMBERRY, Atlanta, Ga. V. O. BAUM, 39, Memphis, Tenn., WILLIAM J. DeWALD, 32, Fort Thomas, Ky., co-pilot. M. T. ODELL, pilot. Airport officials said the accident was caused by a broken hub on the propeller. When the blade came off, the motor revolved at such a terrific speed its fastening bolts were unable to hold it. Department of Commerce inspectors said they would report to Washington officials but agreed the broken propeller hub was the cause. The plane had left the airport hardly one minute and was up about 500 feet when the accident occurred. The plane was operated by the Embry-Riddle division of the American Airways.The usual inspection of the plane was made before the trip and everything was found to be in good condition, airport officials said. Stanley C. Hoffman, general operations manager of the line, and Frank Ware, maintenance manager, said every precaution had been taken in preparing the plane for its take off.

There might have been structural damage to the wing also, which would have made the situation that much more difficult to manage. And, depending on the direction of his takeoff, the area around Lunken Airport is hilly to the east and west and the Ohio river is to the south. It appears, from the article above, that O'Dell took off to the south and veered east toward the Little Miami River (which located to the east of the airport and flows south into the Ohio River) with hills in the distance and the River to his right. Not an easy scenerio to find a safe place to make a forced landing. O'Dell hadn't been married a year yet.

Hamilton (OH) Journal, August 10, 1931 (Source: Woodling)

His gravestone is below, located in Kansas. His family left us little doubt that he was an aviator and proud of the fact. The brief obituary, right, misspells the Hudgins surname, but identifies Noy as a fraternal twin to her brother Ward.

Franklin (TN) The Review-Appeal, August 6, 1931 (Source: ancestry.com)

 

Marvin T. O'Dell, Gravestone, 1931 (Source: findagrave.com)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eagle Valley Enterprise, August 28, 1931, Eagle, CO (Source: Woodling)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emporia, KS Weekly Gazette, August 20, 1931 (Source: Woodling)

 

 

Notice of his funeral appeared in the Emporia, KS Weekly Gazette of August 20, 1931, left.

A later obituary appeared, right, in the Eagle Valley Enterprise, August 28, 1931, Eagle, CO.

O'Dell's wife, Noy, was born July 4, 1910 in Tennessee. Her portrait, around the time she and O'Dell were married, is below.

Noy Hudgins O'Dell, Ca. 1930 (Source: ancestry.com)

In 1934 she bore a son, Thomas Frederick Gilbert (11/22/34-6/7/87). She was married in 1934 to Ferdinand Henry Heiman (5/30/1906-10/9/1984; ultimately a retired USAF Colonel).

They soon divorced and she remarried on December 21, 1937 to Harry Marion Gilbert (10/3/1908-12/29/1988). Note that the "Present Name of Bride" on their marriage certificate was entered as Noy Hudgins Heiman.

Gilbert-Hudgins Marriage Certificate, December 21, 1937 (Source: ancestry.com)

The 1940 U.S. Census placed Noy, Gilbert and son (then age 5) living in Arlington, VA. In 1941 they gave birth to a daughter, Linda Lee (3/15/1941-3/17/2013). Noy passed away at a young age, April 17, 1957 of brain cancer, in Arlington, VA.

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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 02/27/16 REVISED: 05/04/16