ROBERT ELIJAH TURBIVILLE

R.E. Turbiville landed once at Parks Airport, on Tuesday, June 10, 1930 at 9:15AM. He flew the Nicholas-Beazley NB-3V he identified as NC114N (S/N 72). In the Register, he identified the airplane as a Barling, which is understandable, since Walter Barling, as engineer with Nicholas-Beazley Airplane Co, Marshall MO, designed the type. NC114N was a sleek, low-wing monoplane. You may view and example of the model at the link.

R.E. Turbiville, VP-Traffic, 1964 (Source: Woodling)

 

Turbiville left little additional information in the Register, other than he remained in the St. Louis area for three days, departing Saturday, June 14, 1930 at 4:55AM. He did not cite a home base or destination. Regardless, he was about 23-24 years old when he landed, and was, or recently had been, a student at Parks Air College. He enrolled at the College in 1928. I have no record that he earned a degree.

Simultaneously, through 1828 and 1929, he toured the Carolinas selling airplanes. The reason he landed in the NB-3V is that he took over the distributorship for Nicholas-Beazley aircraft in North and South Carolina. On the side he gave flight instruction, airplane rides, and flew barnstorming acts.

But, rather than continuing to fly airplanes, Turbiville went into airline management. In 1930 he joined Eastern Airlines as an Agent at Eastern's Charlotte, NC station. After working there for several years he transferred to Raleigh, NC and in 1937 was promoted to Station Manager in charge of the Eastern station at Greensboro, NC. He later served as Manager of the Winston-Salem station as well. When WWII began he requested assignment to Winston-Salem only, and remained there until 1945 when he was transferred to New Orleans as Station Manager.

After the war, in 1948, Piedmont Airlines received its operating certificate and Turbiville joined Piedmont as Superintendent of Stations. Below is an article that appeared in the September, 1954 Piedmonitor, an internal newspaper for employees of the Airline.

R.E. Turbiville Featured in the Piedmonitor, September, 1954 (Source: Woodling)

It is clear from this article that Turbiville was popular with employees while he was "Superintendent of Stations." Note the biographical sketch of his early flying life. I left the unusual and interesting story about the Confederate soldier who, at age 107, took his first airplane ride.

An interesting finding among the Piedmonitor issues was the one below that documents the signing of the contract that brought Piedmont Airlines into the realm of computerized reservations.

Computerized Reservations Announced, Piedmonitor, October, 1970 (Source: Woodling)

 

Piedmonitor, November, 1970 (Source: Woodling)

 

 

Although Turbiville wasn't among the officers pictured at the signing, as VP-Traffic he certainly was impacted by this innovation, and would have followed its development closely. We tend to forget how recently industries began using computers as a business tool. PARS could be construed as the "big data" of the 70s. It would be another decade before companies began viewing personal computers as a business tool.

For further perspective, barely 40 years earlier, organized commercial air travel didn't exist across much of the U.S. One of the earliest airlines, Standard Air Lines, was traceable through the pages of the old Davis-Monthan Airfield Register. The link will take you to the biography page for Jack Frye, one of the three founders of Standard Air Lines (which later, through a series of mergers, became part of TWA). From there you may enjoy other links to information about the airline and about the pilots who flew it, including link for Paul E. Richter, who, like Turbiville at Piedmont, was a well-respected and loved officer at TWA.

Continuing, in 1957 he was promoted to General Traffic Manager, the post he held prior to his election as an officer of the company in 1964. That year he became "Assistant Vice President -- Traffic." See the photograph,right, taken upon his promotion to VP. In 1970 he was promoted to full Vice President. The article, right, from the November, 1970 Piedmonitor, documents his promotion. According to his granddaughter, who contacted me through this page, Turbiville retired from Piedmont February 6, 1971.

Turbiville passed away February 7, 1991 after enjoying a 20-year retirement. Below,his obituary, which appeared in the Charlotte (NC) Observer, Friday, February 8, 1991.

Mr. Robert Elijah Turbiville 85, of Sparta, formerly of Charlotte, died Feb. 7, 1991, at Alleghany Memorial Hospital in Sparta. Memorial service is 11 a.m. Saturday at Sparta Presbyterian Church. Grandview Memorial Funeral Home of Sparta is in charge.  Mr. Turbiville, an Iredell County native, was a retired Piedmont Airlines vice president. He attended Charlotte schools, Baird's Private School and Wake Forest University. He also had attended Davey Institute of Tree Surgery and worked for Davey Tree Expert Co. until 1928.  He was a student at Parks Air College and was a licensed commercial pilot and instructor. He later worked for Eastern Airlines before joining Piedmont Airlines in 1948.  Survivors are his wife, Maybelline of Sparta; son, Robert Turbiville of Sparta.

 

 

 

 

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THIS PAGE UPLOADED: 03/10/14 REVISED: 09/01/15