"A
mover and shaker; founder and builder; a visionary genius"
by J. Kenneth Brantley
Click
on photo to enlarge.
Newby
Odell Brantly was born April 13, 1905 in Newport, Texas.
He was the son of William Newby Brantly and Ida Mae Ezell. His family
moved to Canada when he was a young man. He
graduated from Tech University in Calvary, Canada in 1922.
He started flying when he was a young man and when the government started
issuing pilot licenses in 1927, Newby had been flying for some time. He received
one of the first ones issued. He spent a 5 year hitch in the active military,
and later flew jet aircraft in the military reserves, until he retired in 1961.
That year he was voted the nation's " Pilot of the Year " by
the National Pilots Association.
Newby
Brantly is the inventor of "two-
way stretchable elastic." In 1931 he acquired the patent for the product and at one time had seven plants in four
different countries. In 1946, he
designed a helicopter, which would later become of such great demand, that he
would open a plant in Frederick, Oklahoma and begin production. After it appeared in several of the early James Bond movies,
sells would soar. Later a 5 place
version was developed and is being manufactured today in Vernon, Texas.
In
1972, Newby designed a bra that is presently marketed by Cameo.
Newby
once he needed a small backhoe, and found that there was no such thing for the
smaller tractors, so he built one. It
was not long before Ford, John Deere, Allis Chalmers and others were wanting him
to build them for their tractors. They
are found all over the country, now.
Mr.
Brantley was known all over the world for his analytical mind and his visionary
brilliance. He died on July 19,
1993.