When I first learn to
fly in the mid 60s, I had never heard of Newby Odell Brantly, or the
"Brantly Helicopter". When I
started flying professionally with the FAA in 1971, I found that I was one
of about six Brantleys in the U.S. who flew professionally. One of the commercially rated
pilots listed in our FAA registry, was N.O. Brantly. I had no idea what relationship he
was to me, nor his fame in aviation.
I, by then, had been asked by several aviators however, if I
was related to the Brantly helicopter designer. I always responded, " yes, if his
name was Brantly, then he was surely a cousin". In 1971, while flying in Pensacola
Florida, I saw my first "Brantly Helicopter" in flight. It was just after that when I saw
another one in the movie "Goldfinger". It would be 20 years later before
I would meet the creator of this popular helicopter of the 1960s and learn
not only of his relationship to me but of his significant contribution to
aviation as well as other fields of technology.
In 1991, N. O.
Brantly, was living in Frederick, Oklahoma. I was attending a course in nearby
Oklahoma City in February when I drove down to Frederick to meet him. I had discovered that N. was for
Newby and had already concluded that he was likely kin to Larkin Newby
Brantly, who received land in Yalobusha County Mississippi in 1839. Larkin Newby was the son of James
and Lettice Brantley, formerly of Chatham County, North Carolina.
Before visiting
with Newby, I dropped by the airport at Frederick and met Olvis
Jones. Olvis had work for
Newby for several years in the late 60s and early 70s as his test
pilot. I found Olvis in a
hangar with four Brantly Helicopters. He explained to me the special
design of the Brantley rotor system which help eliminate ground
resonance. Olvis had flown
over half of the 350 production models. He had some good comments on the
Brantly, but gave Newby even higher marks as a person.
I drove to
Newby's place and found him in the back yard of his beautiful subterranean
home. He was a stately
looking gentleman, especially for a man of 86 years. He invited me in and we chatted
for some time. I soon found
that I was talking to a very talented and gifted man. Inquiring about his life, I
learned that he had graduated from Tech University in Calvary, Canada in
1922. He had spent a 5-year
hitch in the military and had lived most of his life in Pennsylvania. 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 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. I
learned that it was Newby Brantly who invented "two-way stretchable
elastic" in 1931 and at one time had seven plants in four different
countries. In 1946, he
designed a helicopter, just for something to do. It would later become in 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, sales 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 said, then ,that he needed a small backhoe one day
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 wanted him to build the
small backhoes for their tractors. They are found all over the
country now.
I did enjoy meeting this distinguished
Brantly who has contributed so much to modern technology and who has also
put the Brantly name in highlights.
It was fun too, to talk to the number one Brantly aviator in the
world after being in aviation myself and hearing his name for over two
decades.
Newby died in or about 1992
J. Kenneth
Brantley
