Fenton Clarence Lincoln Osgerby was the son of Jabez Kaleb "J.K." Osgerby and his first wife Eliza Lusettie (Hathaway) Osgerby. Fenton never married.
Fenton, an electrical engineer and aviation contractor, was killed in a glider crash near Port Huron, St. Clair County, Michigan.
Fenton is buried on the Osgerby lot in Block B, Section 1 of Riverside Cemetery. Also buried on this lot are Fenton's mother E. Lusettie (Hathaway) Osgerby; his father J.K. Osgerby and his second wife Reine M. (Torrey) Osgerby; his sister Lela Elizabeth Osgerby; his half-sister Jean Louise Osgerby; his grandparents, John Thomas and Elizabeth (Gaunt) Osgerby; and his uncle, William Osgerby.
Note: A number of articles related to Fenton's fatal glider crash state that he was engaged to be married. In at least one news article, his fiancée is named; she was Marguerite Ruth Kay of St. Joseph, Michigan. The puzzling information about Marguerite being mentioned is that she passed away in February 1930, several months before Clarence's fatal crash. In her obituary Fenton is also named as her fiancé. Her Find A Grave memorial number is 102769606.
News Item 1:
Former Vassar Man's Son Killed in Glider Crash
Fenton L. Osgerby, 29, of Detroit, a glider pilot, was instantly killed at Marysville Sunday [August 17, 1930] afternoon when the glider he was operating cracked up. He was the son of J.K. Osgerby of East Tawas, superintendent of schools at that place and a former resident of this county. For several years Mr. Osgerby was head of the schools at Vassar.
After Fenton Osgerby had made one successful flight Sunday afternoon in the same craft, spectators were horrified when the glider cracked up not ten feet from them. Whether an inquest would be held into his death was to be decided upon arrival of the father from East Tawas. Osgerby was a licensed non-commercial pilot. It was said that he was to be married soon.
(Tuscola County Advertiser, August 22, 1930, p.2.)
News Item 2:
Detroiter Victim of City's First Fatal Air Accident
About 500 horrified spectators saw Fenton L. Osgerby fall 400 feet to almost instant death Sunday at the Marysville airport when the Franklin glider he was attempting to fly crashed nose-on into the earth in the first fatal aviation accident in the history of the Thumb district.
Osgerby had been towed several hundred feet and had reached a height of about 400 feet when the 600-foot hemp tow rope broke. The frail craft shot upward and then downward in a spin. Spectators say Osgerby apparently "froze" at the controls, or fainted, leaving himself and the glider at the mercy of the wind. Osgerby was an engineer for the Detroit Edison Company.
Robert Duncan, 28, Detroit, president of the Detroit Glider Club, was knocked unconscious and suffered severe bruises and cuts when he was struck by the falling glider. Allan T. Carlisle, assistant city engineer, Ross Scupholm, president of the Port Huron Glider Club, and A.P. Artram, Detroit, narrowly escaped serious injury when Osgerby crashed. They jumped in time to avert further tragedy.
Although the accident menaced the crowd, it took place so quickly that none of the spectators took fright or ran.
Osgerby's body was taken to the Falk Funeral Home to await the arrival of his father, J.K. Osgerby, East Tawas, who came from Lansing at noon today. Coroner Albert A. Falk Sunday swore in a jury. He stated today he will not order the jury to meet unless requested to do so by the father of the dead pilot.
Mr. Osgerby was uncertain whether he will request that an inquiry be held.
Accompanied by Mr. Falk, he went to the airport to visit the scene of the accident.
Here for State Meet
Duncan was not seriously injured. He regained consciousness and, after being attended to by Dr. R.F. Heavenrich, he was removed to the home of friends in Algonac, where he was spending the weekend.
Both pilots were in Port Huron for the first state glider meet of the Michigan Council of Glider Clubs, which had been arranged by the Port Huron glider club to take place at Wadhams Hills Sunday morning. The meet was canceled because of adverse wind conditions and failure to obtain permission for use of another hill where better wind conditions prevailed.
Only two of the six clubs that had entered the meet sent their gliders, the local club and the Fisher "Y" club. The ship that crashed was the property of Prof. R.E. Franklin, head of the aeronautics department of the University of Michigan, who manufactures gliders in Ypsilanti.
Osgerby, who had been flying gliders several months and who is said to have made many flights in Franklin ships, possessed a non-commercial glider pilot's license.
The accident is believed to have been due chiefly to his physical condition. Allen T. Carlisle, assistant city engineer, and Ross C. Scupholm, both officers of the Port Huron Glider Club, said today that Osgerby is believed to have been suffering from tuberculosis.
"Froze"to Stick
Osgerby "froze" at the stock of his craft and failed to maneuver his ship to a safe landing after the rope, with which he was being towed, broke at the nose of the glider, Carlisle and Scupholm said today.
He was being towed by an automobile in which were Professor Franklin, Donald K. Walker, Detroit manager of the National Glider Association, his small son, and James Carlisle, small son of Mr. Carlisle.
Carlisle and Scupholm, who were within a few feet of the spot where the crash took place, and who had jumped to avoid being hit, said that Osgerby apparently "froze" to the stick. In removing his body from the wreckage of the glider, his hand was found tightly clasping the stick.
"The tow rope broke when the craft reached a height of about 400 feet," Carlisle said today. "I thought there was something queer about the way he started to climb.
"When the rope broke, there was no reason why Osgerby, as an experienced pilot, would not have been able to bring the ship to a safe landing. However, he stuck the nose of the ship in the air, taking it out of a tight spin," and swerved to the right, then leveled off, nosed up straight and then turned to the left.
Crash Endangers Crowd
"He was travelling about 40 miles an hour. Other witnesses to the accident say they couldn't see a single movement of the controls, indicating Osgerby had "froze" at the stick.
"The fatal flight ended when the craft swooped down in a steep bank toward the crowd of 500, which suddenly realized that something was wrong."
Scupholm said he saw Duncan, who was hit, rolling over and over on the ground. A wing just grazed A.P. Artram, one of the five pilots who had accompanied Professor Franklin to Port Huron.
The craft landed on its nose, crushing the metal-encased front of the fuselage, breaking one of Osgerby's legs and crushing his chest. The glider was a total wreck.
Osgerby, only a few minutes before the fatal crash, had made a successful flight in the same ship. He had made several flights in the same and similar craft, Mr. Walker, Manager of the National Glider Association, said.
Professor Franklin, Duncan, Artram, and Osgerby all made flights in the death-glider Sunday afternoon before the crash occurred, and had had no difficulty.
Notifies Relatives
Coroner Albert A. Falk Sunday night impaneled the following jury: Andrew Mertz, Chris Relkin, S.L. Trusler, John Wright, Nellie Surles, and Mary Riley.
Mr. Falk notified a sister, Miss L. [Lela] E. Osgerby, Bellevue, Mich., who is spending her vacation in New Hampshire, of the death of her brother. A Mr. and Mrs. Chadwick [Robert Lincoln Chadwick and his wife Beulah Belle Osgerby], Redford, Mich., cousins of Osgerby, arrived late Sunday night.
Although the state glider meet failed to take place because of adverse weather conditions, hundreds of persons gathered at the airport Sunday afternoon.
The Fisher "Y" glider arrived at Wadhams Hills Saturday afternoon and practiced short flights. It was the only glider on the ground Sunday morning at the time designated for the state meet. The glider was removed to the Marysville airport, where the Port Huron club's glider is kept.
Practice Short Flights
Later in the afternoon, Professor Franklin's ship arrived and auto towing was startede. The Fisher "Y" club members practiced short flights. The craft of the other clubs expected to participate in the meet, the Detroit Glider Club, the A.B.B. Club, Detroit, and the Border Cities Glider club, Windsor, Ont., did not arrive.
Duncan and Mr. Ketcham represented the Detroit Glider Club. Members of the Fisher "Y" club who were present were David Sharp, Arthur Davis, Harold McCracken, Joseph Elliot, Wilber Lockwood and Herman Reynolds.
Accompanying Professor Franklin were P. Orr, P. Cook, Mr. Artram, A. Patrick and Osgerby.
Robert Evans, son of Edward S. Evans, Detroit, founder of the National Glider Association, and M.L. Fast, of the General Motors Research club, were present at the airport.
The flights during the afternoon were not a part of any contests and were made because the state meet failed to take place in the morning.
Duncan made two flights in the Detroit-Gull owned by the Fisher "Y" club and one in the Franklin ship in which Osgerby crashed. Professor Franklin made two flights in the same ship and Osgerby made one flight in the Franklin before his last ill-fated take-off.
Scupholm today said a meeting of the Port Huron Glider Club will be held at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Chamber of Commerce.
(The Times Herald, [Port Huron, MI], August 18, 1930, pp. 1 & 7.
News Item 3:
FRANCIS [FENTON] L. OSGERBY DIES IN AIR MISHAP
Francis [Fenton] L. Osgerby, 29, fiancé of the late Miss Marguerite Kay, was injured Sunday in a glider accident at the Marysville, Mich. airport and died 15 minutes later, according to word received by Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth Kay, of Forres Avenue.
Osgerby apparently "froze to the controls" 400 feet aloft. The glider fell, injuring one spectator and narrowly missing a crowd of 200 persons.
Osgerby had been employed by the Detroit Edison Company.
Donald F. Walker, manager of the National Glider Association, was riding in the automobile which was being used to tow Osgerby's glider. Eye witnesses declared that throughout the fall, Osgerby did not move his controls. When he passed over the crowd, several persons said he seemed to be staring straight ahead and making no movement. Osgerby was said to have been in ill health lately, and it is thought that he may have fainted and been unconscious before he struck the ground. He had made more than 200 flights in this same glider.
(The Herald Press, [St. Joseph, MI], August 18, 1930, p.2.)
Fenton, an electrical engineer and aviation contractor, was killed in a glider crash near Port Huron, St. Clair County, Michigan.
Fenton is buried on the Osgerby lot in Block B, Section 1 of Riverside Cemetery. Also buried on this lot are Fenton's mother E. Lusettie (Hathaway) Osgerby; his father J.K. Osgerby and his second wife Reine M. (Torrey) Osgerby; his sister Lela Elizabeth Osgerby; his half-sister Jean Louise Osgerby; his grandparents, John Thomas and Elizabeth (Gaunt) Osgerby; and his uncle, William Osgerby.
Note: A number of articles related to Fenton's fatal glider crash state that he was engaged to be married. In at least one news article, his fiancée is named; she was Marguerite Ruth Kay of St. Joseph, Michigan. The puzzling information about Marguerite being mentioned is that she passed away in February 1930, several months before Clarence's fatal crash. In her obituary Fenton is also named as her fiancé. Her Find A Grave memorial number is 102769606.
News Item 1:
Former Vassar Man's Son Killed in Glider Crash
Fenton L. Osgerby, 29, of Detroit, a glider pilot, was instantly killed at Marysville Sunday [August 17, 1930] afternoon when the glider he was operating cracked up. He was the son of J.K. Osgerby of East Tawas, superintendent of schools at that place and a former resident of this county. For several years Mr. Osgerby was head of the schools at Vassar.
After Fenton Osgerby had made one successful flight Sunday afternoon in the same craft, spectators were horrified when the glider cracked up not ten feet from them. Whether an inquest would be held into his death was to be decided upon arrival of the father from East Tawas. Osgerby was a licensed non-commercial pilot. It was said that he was to be married soon.
(Tuscola County Advertiser, August 22, 1930, p.2.)
News Item 2:
Detroiter Victim of City's First Fatal Air Accident
About 500 horrified spectators saw Fenton L. Osgerby fall 400 feet to almost instant death Sunday at the Marysville airport when the Franklin glider he was attempting to fly crashed nose-on into the earth in the first fatal aviation accident in the history of the Thumb district.
Osgerby had been towed several hundred feet and had reached a height of about 400 feet when the 600-foot hemp tow rope broke. The frail craft shot upward and then downward in a spin. Spectators say Osgerby apparently "froze" at the controls, or fainted, leaving himself and the glider at the mercy of the wind. Osgerby was an engineer for the Detroit Edison Company.
Robert Duncan, 28, Detroit, president of the Detroit Glider Club, was knocked unconscious and suffered severe bruises and cuts when he was struck by the falling glider. Allan T. Carlisle, assistant city engineer, Ross Scupholm, president of the Port Huron Glider Club, and A.P. Artram, Detroit, narrowly escaped serious injury when Osgerby crashed. They jumped in time to avert further tragedy.
Although the accident menaced the crowd, it took place so quickly that none of the spectators took fright or ran.
Osgerby's body was taken to the Falk Funeral Home to await the arrival of his father, J.K. Osgerby, East Tawas, who came from Lansing at noon today. Coroner Albert A. Falk Sunday swore in a jury. He stated today he will not order the jury to meet unless requested to do so by the father of the dead pilot.
Mr. Osgerby was uncertain whether he will request that an inquiry be held.
Accompanied by Mr. Falk, he went to the airport to visit the scene of the accident.
Here for State Meet
Duncan was not seriously injured. He regained consciousness and, after being attended to by Dr. R.F. Heavenrich, he was removed to the home of friends in Algonac, where he was spending the weekend.
Both pilots were in Port Huron for the first state glider meet of the Michigan Council of Glider Clubs, which had been arranged by the Port Huron glider club to take place at Wadhams Hills Sunday morning. The meet was canceled because of adverse wind conditions and failure to obtain permission for use of another hill where better wind conditions prevailed.
Only two of the six clubs that had entered the meet sent their gliders, the local club and the Fisher "Y" club. The ship that crashed was the property of Prof. R.E. Franklin, head of the aeronautics department of the University of Michigan, who manufactures gliders in Ypsilanti.
Osgerby, who had been flying gliders several months and who is said to have made many flights in Franklin ships, possessed a non-commercial glider pilot's license.
The accident is believed to have been due chiefly to his physical condition. Allen T. Carlisle, assistant city engineer, and Ross C. Scupholm, both officers of the Port Huron Glider Club, said today that Osgerby is believed to have been suffering from tuberculosis.
"Froze"to Stick
Osgerby "froze" at the stock of his craft and failed to maneuver his ship to a safe landing after the rope, with which he was being towed, broke at the nose of the glider, Carlisle and Scupholm said today.
He was being towed by an automobile in which were Professor Franklin, Donald K. Walker, Detroit manager of the National Glider Association, his small son, and James Carlisle, small son of Mr. Carlisle.
Carlisle and Scupholm, who were within a few feet of the spot where the crash took place, and who had jumped to avoid being hit, said that Osgerby apparently "froze" to the stick. In removing his body from the wreckage of the glider, his hand was found tightly clasping the stick.
"The tow rope broke when the craft reached a height of about 400 feet," Carlisle said today. "I thought there was something queer about the way he started to climb.
"When the rope broke, there was no reason why Osgerby, as an experienced pilot, would not have been able to bring the ship to a safe landing. However, he stuck the nose of the ship in the air, taking it out of a tight spin," and swerved to the right, then leveled off, nosed up straight and then turned to the left.
Crash Endangers Crowd
"He was travelling about 40 miles an hour. Other witnesses to the accident say they couldn't see a single movement of the controls, indicating Osgerby had "froze" at the stick.
"The fatal flight ended when the craft swooped down in a steep bank toward the crowd of 500, which suddenly realized that something was wrong."
Scupholm said he saw Duncan, who was hit, rolling over and over on the ground. A wing just grazed A.P. Artram, one of the five pilots who had accompanied Professor Franklin to Port Huron.
The craft landed on its nose, crushing the metal-encased front of the fuselage, breaking one of Osgerby's legs and crushing his chest. The glider was a total wreck.
Osgerby, only a few minutes before the fatal crash, had made a successful flight in the same ship. He had made several flights in the same and similar craft, Mr. Walker, Manager of the National Glider Association, said.
Professor Franklin, Duncan, Artram, and Osgerby all made flights in the death-glider Sunday afternoon before the crash occurred, and had had no difficulty.
Notifies Relatives
Coroner Albert A. Falk Sunday night impaneled the following jury: Andrew Mertz, Chris Relkin, S.L. Trusler, John Wright, Nellie Surles, and Mary Riley.
Mr. Falk notified a sister, Miss L. [Lela] E. Osgerby, Bellevue, Mich., who is spending her vacation in New Hampshire, of the death of her brother. A Mr. and Mrs. Chadwick [Robert Lincoln Chadwick and his wife Beulah Belle Osgerby], Redford, Mich., cousins of Osgerby, arrived late Sunday night.
Although the state glider meet failed to take place because of adverse weather conditions, hundreds of persons gathered at the airport Sunday afternoon.
The Fisher "Y" glider arrived at Wadhams Hills Saturday afternoon and practiced short flights. It was the only glider on the ground Sunday morning at the time designated for the state meet. The glider was removed to the Marysville airport, where the Port Huron club's glider is kept.
Practice Short Flights
Later in the afternoon, Professor Franklin's ship arrived and auto towing was startede. The Fisher "Y" club members practiced short flights. The craft of the other clubs expected to participate in the meet, the Detroit Glider Club, the A.B.B. Club, Detroit, and the Border Cities Glider club, Windsor, Ont., did not arrive.
Duncan and Mr. Ketcham represented the Detroit Glider Club. Members of the Fisher "Y" club who were present were David Sharp, Arthur Davis, Harold McCracken, Joseph Elliot, Wilber Lockwood and Herman Reynolds.
Accompanying Professor Franklin were P. Orr, P. Cook, Mr. Artram, A. Patrick and Osgerby.
Robert Evans, son of Edward S. Evans, Detroit, founder of the National Glider Association, and M.L. Fast, of the General Motors Research club, were present at the airport.
The flights during the afternoon were not a part of any contests and were made because the state meet failed to take place in the morning.
Duncan made two flights in the Detroit-Gull owned by the Fisher "Y" club and one in the Franklin ship in which Osgerby crashed. Professor Franklin made two flights in the same ship and Osgerby made one flight in the Franklin before his last ill-fated take-off.
Scupholm today said a meeting of the Port Huron Glider Club will be held at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Chamber of Commerce.
(The Times Herald, [Port Huron, MI], August 18, 1930, pp. 1 & 7.
News Item 3:
FRANCIS [FENTON] L. OSGERBY DIES IN AIR MISHAP
Francis [Fenton] L. Osgerby, 29, fiancé of the late Miss Marguerite Kay, was injured Sunday in a glider accident at the Marysville, Mich. airport and died 15 minutes later, according to word received by Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth Kay, of Forres Avenue.
Osgerby apparently "froze to the controls" 400 feet aloft. The glider fell, injuring one spectator and narrowly missing a crowd of 200 persons.
Osgerby had been employed by the Detroit Edison Company.
Donald F. Walker, manager of the National Glider Association, was riding in the automobile which was being used to tow Osgerby's glider. Eye witnesses declared that throughout the fall, Osgerby did not move his controls. When he passed over the crowd, several persons said he seemed to be staring straight ahead and making no movement. Osgerby was said to have been in ill health lately, and it is thought that he may have fainted and been unconscious before he struck the ground. He had made more than 200 flights in this same glider.
(The Herald Press, [St. Joseph, MI], August 18, 1930, p.2.)
Fenton Clarence Lincoln Osgerby was the son of Jabez Kaleb "J.K." Osgerby and his first wife Eliza Lusettie (Hathaway) Osgerby. Fenton never married.
Fenton, an electrical engineer and aviation contractor, was killed in a glider crash near Port Huron, St. Clair County, Michigan.
Fenton is buried on the Osgerby lot in Block B, Section 1 of Riverside Cemetery. Also buried on this lot are Fenton's mother E. Lusettie (Hathaway) Osgerby; his father J.K. Osgerby and his second wife Reine M. (Torrey) Osgerby; his sister Lela Elizabeth Osgerby; his half-sister Jean Louise Osgerby; his grandparents, John Thomas and Elizabeth (Gaunt) Osgerby; and his uncle, William Osgerby.
Note: A number of articles related to Fenton's fatal glider crash state that he was engaged to be married. In at least one news article, his fiancée is named; she was Marguerite Ruth Kay of St. Joseph, Michigan. The puzzling information about Marguerite being mentioned is that she passed away in February 1930, several months before Clarence's fatal crash. In her obituary Fenton is also named as her fiancé. Her Find A Grave memorial number is 102769606.
News Item 1:
Former Vassar Man's Son Killed in Glider Crash
Fenton L. Osgerby, 29, of Detroit, a glider pilot, was instantly killed at Marysville Sunday [August 17, 1930] afternoon when the glider he was operating cracked up. He was the son of J.K. Osgerby of East Tawas, superintendent of schools at that place and a former resident of this county. For several years Mr. Osgerby was head of the schools at Vassar.
After Fenton Osgerby had made one successful flight Sunday afternoon in the same craft, spectators were horrified when the glider cracked up not ten feet from them. Whether an inquest would be held into his death was to be decided upon arrival of the father from East Tawas. Osgerby was a licensed non-commercial pilot. It was said that he was to be married soon.
(Tuscola County Advertiser, August 22, 1930, p.2.)
News Item 2:
Detroiter Victim of City's First Fatal Air Accident
About 500 horrified spectators saw Fenton L. Osgerby fall 400 feet to almost instant death Sunday at the Marysville airport when the Franklin glider he was attempting to fly crashed nose-on into the earth in the first fatal aviation accident in the history of the Thumb district.
Osgerby had been towed several hundred feet and had reached a height of about 400 feet when the 600-foot hemp tow rope broke. The frail craft shot upward and then downward in a spin. Spectators say Osgerby apparently "froze" at the controls, or fainted, leaving himself and the glider at the mercy of the wind. Osgerby was an engineer for the Detroit Edison Company.
Robert Duncan, 28, Detroit, president of the Detroit Glider Club, was knocked unconscious and suffered severe bruises and cuts when he was struck by the falling glider. Allan T. Carlisle, assistant city engineer, Ross Scupholm, president of the Port Huron Glider Club, and A.P. Artram, Detroit, narrowly escaped serious injury when Osgerby crashed. They jumped in time to avert further tragedy.
Although the accident menaced the crowd, it took place so quickly that none of the spectators took fright or ran.
Osgerby's body was taken to the Falk Funeral Home to await the arrival of his father, J.K. Osgerby, East Tawas, who came from Lansing at noon today. Coroner Albert A. Falk Sunday swore in a jury. He stated today he will not order the jury to meet unless requested to do so by the father of the dead pilot.
Mr. Osgerby was uncertain whether he will request that an inquiry be held.
Accompanied by Mr. Falk, he went to the airport to visit the scene of the accident.
Here for State Meet
Duncan was not seriously injured. He regained consciousness and, after being attended to by Dr. R.F. Heavenrich, he was removed to the home of friends in Algonac, where he was spending the weekend.
Both pilots were in Port Huron for the first state glider meet of the Michigan Council of Glider Clubs, which had been arranged by the Port Huron glider club to take place at Wadhams Hills Sunday morning. The meet was canceled because of adverse wind conditions and failure to obtain permission for use of another hill where better wind conditions prevailed.
Only two of the six clubs that had entered the meet sent their gliders, the local club and the Fisher "Y" club. The ship that crashed was the property of Prof. R.E. Franklin, head of the aeronautics department of the University of Michigan, who manufactures gliders in Ypsilanti.
Osgerby, who had been flying gliders several months and who is said to have made many flights in Franklin ships, possessed a non-commercial glider pilot's license.
The accident is believed to have been due chiefly to his physical condition. Allen T. Carlisle, assistant city engineer, and Ross C. Scupholm, both officers of the Port Huron Glider Club, said today that Osgerby is believed to have been suffering from tuberculosis.
"Froze"to Stick
Osgerby "froze" at the stock of his craft and failed to maneuver his ship to a safe landing after the rope, with which he was being towed, broke at the nose of the glider, Carlisle and Scupholm said today.
He was being towed by an automobile in which were Professor Franklin, Donald K. Walker, Detroit manager of the National Glider Association, his small son, and James Carlisle, small son of Mr. Carlisle.
Carlisle and Scupholm, who were within a few feet of the spot where the crash took place, and who had jumped to avoid being hit, said that Osgerby apparently "froze" to the stick. In removing his body from the wreckage of the glider, his hand was found tightly clasping the stick.
"The tow rope broke when the craft reached a height of about 400 feet," Carlisle said today. "I thought there was something queer about the way he started to climb.
"When the rope broke, there was no reason why Osgerby, as an experienced pilot, would not have been able to bring the ship to a safe landing. However, he stuck the nose of the ship in the air, taking it out of a tight spin," and swerved to the right, then leveled off, nosed up straight and then turned to the left.
Crash Endangers Crowd
"He was travelling about 40 miles an hour. Other witnesses to the accident say they couldn't see a single movement of the controls, indicating Osgerby had "froze" at the stick.
"The fatal flight ended when the craft swooped down in a steep bank toward the crowd of 500, which suddenly realized that something was wrong."
Scupholm said he saw Duncan, who was hit, rolling over and over on the ground. A wing just grazed A.P. Artram, one of the five pilots who had accompanied Professor Franklin to Port Huron.
The craft landed on its nose, crushing the metal-encased front of the fuselage, breaking one of Osgerby's legs and crushing his chest. The glider was a total wreck.
Osgerby, only a few minutes before the fatal crash, had made a successful flight in the same ship. He had made several flights in the same and similar craft, Mr. Walker, Manager of the National Glider Association, said.
Professor Franklin, Duncan, Artram, and Osgerby all made flights in the death-glider Sunday afternoon before the crash occurred, and had had no difficulty.
Notifies Relatives
Coroner Albert A. Falk Sunday night impaneled the following jury: Andrew Mertz, Chris Relkin, S.L. Trusler, John Wright, Nellie Surles, and Mary Riley.
Mr. Falk notified a sister, Miss L. [Lela] E. Osgerby, Bellevue, Mich., who is spending her vacation in New Hampshire, of the death of her brother. A Mr. and Mrs. Chadwick [Robert Lincoln Chadwick and his wife Beulah Belle Osgerby], Redford, Mich., cousins of Osgerby, arrived late Sunday night.
Although the state glider meet failed to take place because of adverse weather conditions, hundreds of persons gathered at the airport Sunday afternoon.
The Fisher "Y" glider arrived at Wadhams Hills Saturday afternoon and practiced short flights. It was the only glider on the ground Sunday morning at the time designated for the state meet. The glider was removed to the Marysville airport, where the Port Huron club's glider is kept.
Practice Short Flights
Later in the afternoon, Professor Franklin's ship arrived and auto towing was startede. The Fisher "Y" club members practiced short flights. The craft of the other clubs expected to participate in the meet, the Detroit Glider Club, the A.B.B. Club, Detroit, and the Border Cities Glider club, Windsor, Ont., did not arrive.
Duncan and Mr. Ketcham represented the Detroit Glider Club. Members of the Fisher "Y" club who were present were David Sharp, Arthur Davis, Harold McCracken, Joseph Elliot, Wilber Lockwood and Herman Reynolds.
Accompanying Professor Franklin were P. Orr, P. Cook, Mr. Artram, A. Patrick and Osgerby.
Robert Evans, son of Edward S. Evans, Detroit, founder of the National Glider Association, and M.L. Fast, of the General Motors Research club, were present at the airport.
The flights during the afternoon were not a part of any contests and were made because the state meet failed to take place in the morning.
Duncan made two flights in the Detroit-Gull owned by the Fisher "Y" club and one in the Franklin ship in which Osgerby crashed. Professor Franklin made two flights in the same ship and Osgerby made one flight in the Franklin before his last ill-fated take-off.
Scupholm today said a meeting of the Port Huron Glider Club will be held at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Chamber of Commerce.
(The Times Herald, [Port Huron, MI], August 18, 1930, pp. 1 & 7.
News Item 3:
FRANCIS [FENTON] L. OSGERBY DIES IN AIR MISHAP
Francis [Fenton] L. Osgerby, 29, fiancé of the late Miss Marguerite Kay, was injured Sunday in a glider accident at the Marysville, Mich. airport and died 15 minutes later, according to word received by Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth Kay, of Forres Avenue.
Osgerby apparently "froze to the controls" 400 feet aloft. The glider fell, injuring one spectator and narrowly missing a crowd of 200 persons.
Osgerby had been employed by the Detroit Edison Company.
Donald F. Walker, manager of the National Glider Association, was riding in the automobile which was being used to tow Osgerby's glider. Eye witnesses declared that throughout the fall, Osgerby did not move his controls. When he passed over the crowd, several persons said he seemed to be staring straight ahead and making no movement. Osgerby was said to have been in ill health lately, and it is thought that he may have fainted and been unconscious before he struck the ground. He had made more than 200 flights in this same glider.
(The Herald Press, [St. Joseph, MI], August 18, 1930, p.2.)
Fenton, an electrical engineer and aviation contractor, was killed in a glider crash near Port Huron, St. Clair County, Michigan.
Fenton is buried on the Osgerby lot in Block B, Section 1 of Riverside Cemetery. Also buried on this lot are Fenton's mother E. Lusettie (Hathaway) Osgerby; his father J.K. Osgerby and his second wife Reine M. (Torrey) Osgerby; his sister Lela Elizabeth Osgerby; his half-sister Jean Louise Osgerby; his grandparents, John Thomas and Elizabeth (Gaunt) Osgerby; and his uncle, William Osgerby.
Note: A number of articles related to Fenton's fatal glider crash state that he was engaged to be married. In at least one news article, his fiancée is named; she was Marguerite Ruth Kay of St. Joseph, Michigan. The puzzling information about Marguerite being mentioned is that she passed away in February 1930, several months before Clarence's fatal crash. In her obituary Fenton is also named as her fiancé. Her Find A Grave memorial number is 102769606.
News Item 1:
Former Vassar Man's Son Killed in Glider Crash
Fenton L. Osgerby, 29, of Detroit, a glider pilot, was instantly killed at Marysville Sunday [August 17, 1930] afternoon when the glider he was operating cracked up. He was the son of J.K. Osgerby of East Tawas, superintendent of schools at that place and a former resident of this county. For several years Mr. Osgerby was head of the schools at Vassar.
After Fenton Osgerby had made one successful flight Sunday afternoon in the same craft, spectators were horrified when the glider cracked up not ten feet from them. Whether an inquest would be held into his death was to be decided upon arrival of the father from East Tawas. Osgerby was a licensed non-commercial pilot. It was said that he was to be married soon.
(Tuscola County Advertiser, August 22, 1930, p.2.)
News Item 2:
Detroiter Victim of City's First Fatal Air Accident
About 500 horrified spectators saw Fenton L. Osgerby fall 400 feet to almost instant death Sunday at the Marysville airport when the Franklin glider he was attempting to fly crashed nose-on into the earth in the first fatal aviation accident in the history of the Thumb district.
Osgerby had been towed several hundred feet and had reached a height of about 400 feet when the 600-foot hemp tow rope broke. The frail craft shot upward and then downward in a spin. Spectators say Osgerby apparently "froze" at the controls, or fainted, leaving himself and the glider at the mercy of the wind. Osgerby was an engineer for the Detroit Edison Company.
Robert Duncan, 28, Detroit, president of the Detroit Glider Club, was knocked unconscious and suffered severe bruises and cuts when he was struck by the falling glider. Allan T. Carlisle, assistant city engineer, Ross Scupholm, president of the Port Huron Glider Club, and A.P. Artram, Detroit, narrowly escaped serious injury when Osgerby crashed. They jumped in time to avert further tragedy.
Although the accident menaced the crowd, it took place so quickly that none of the spectators took fright or ran.
Osgerby's body was taken to the Falk Funeral Home to await the arrival of his father, J.K. Osgerby, East Tawas, who came from Lansing at noon today. Coroner Albert A. Falk Sunday swore in a jury. He stated today he will not order the jury to meet unless requested to do so by the father of the dead pilot.
Mr. Osgerby was uncertain whether he will request that an inquiry be held.
Accompanied by Mr. Falk, he went to the airport to visit the scene of the accident.
Here for State Meet
Duncan was not seriously injured. He regained consciousness and, after being attended to by Dr. R.F. Heavenrich, he was removed to the home of friends in Algonac, where he was spending the weekend.
Both pilots were in Port Huron for the first state glider meet of the Michigan Council of Glider Clubs, which had been arranged by the Port Huron glider club to take place at Wadhams Hills Sunday morning. The meet was canceled because of adverse wind conditions and failure to obtain permission for use of another hill where better wind conditions prevailed.
Only two of the six clubs that had entered the meet sent their gliders, the local club and the Fisher "Y" club. The ship that crashed was the property of Prof. R.E. Franklin, head of the aeronautics department of the University of Michigan, who manufactures gliders in Ypsilanti.
Osgerby, who had been flying gliders several months and who is said to have made many flights in Franklin ships, possessed a non-commercial glider pilot's license.
The accident is believed to have been due chiefly to his physical condition. Allen T. Carlisle, assistant city engineer, and Ross C. Scupholm, both officers of the Port Huron Glider Club, said today that Osgerby is believed to have been suffering from tuberculosis.
"Froze"to Stick
Osgerby "froze" at the stock of his craft and failed to maneuver his ship to a safe landing after the rope, with which he was being towed, broke at the nose of the glider, Carlisle and Scupholm said today.
He was being towed by an automobile in which were Professor Franklin, Donald K. Walker, Detroit manager of the National Glider Association, his small son, and James Carlisle, small son of Mr. Carlisle.
Carlisle and Scupholm, who were within a few feet of the spot where the crash took place, and who had jumped to avoid being hit, said that Osgerby apparently "froze" to the stick. In removing his body from the wreckage of the glider, his hand was found tightly clasping the stick.
"The tow rope broke when the craft reached a height of about 400 feet," Carlisle said today. "I thought there was something queer about the way he started to climb.
"When the rope broke, there was no reason why Osgerby, as an experienced pilot, would not have been able to bring the ship to a safe landing. However, he stuck the nose of the ship in the air, taking it out of a tight spin," and swerved to the right, then leveled off, nosed up straight and then turned to the left.
Crash Endangers Crowd
"He was travelling about 40 miles an hour. Other witnesses to the accident say they couldn't see a single movement of the controls, indicating Osgerby had "froze" at the stick.
"The fatal flight ended when the craft swooped down in a steep bank toward the crowd of 500, which suddenly realized that something was wrong."
Scupholm said he saw Duncan, who was hit, rolling over and over on the ground. A wing just grazed A.P. Artram, one of the five pilots who had accompanied Professor Franklin to Port Huron.
The craft landed on its nose, crushing the metal-encased front of the fuselage, breaking one of Osgerby's legs and crushing his chest. The glider was a total wreck.
Osgerby, only a few minutes before the fatal crash, had made a successful flight in the same ship. He had made several flights in the same and similar craft, Mr. Walker, Manager of the National Glider Association, said.
Professor Franklin, Duncan, Artram, and Osgerby all made flights in the death-glider Sunday afternoon before the crash occurred, and had had no difficulty.
Notifies Relatives
Coroner Albert A. Falk Sunday night impaneled the following jury: Andrew Mertz, Chris Relkin, S.L. Trusler, John Wright, Nellie Surles, and Mary Riley.
Mr. Falk notified a sister, Miss L. [Lela] E. Osgerby, Bellevue, Mich., who is spending her vacation in New Hampshire, of the death of her brother. A Mr. and Mrs. Chadwick [Robert Lincoln Chadwick and his wife Beulah Belle Osgerby], Redford, Mich., cousins of Osgerby, arrived late Sunday night.
Although the state glider meet failed to take place because of adverse weather conditions, hundreds of persons gathered at the airport Sunday afternoon.
The Fisher "Y" glider arrived at Wadhams Hills Saturday afternoon and practiced short flights. It was the only glider on the ground Sunday morning at the time designated for the state meet. The glider was removed to the Marysville airport, where the Port Huron club's glider is kept.
Practice Short Flights
Later in the afternoon, Professor Franklin's ship arrived and auto towing was startede. The Fisher "Y" club members practiced short flights. The craft of the other clubs expected to participate in the meet, the Detroit Glider Club, the A.B.B. Club, Detroit, and the Border Cities Glider club, Windsor, Ont., did not arrive.
Duncan and Mr. Ketcham represented the Detroit Glider Club. Members of the Fisher "Y" club who were present were David Sharp, Arthur Davis, Harold McCracken, Joseph Elliot, Wilber Lockwood and Herman Reynolds.
Accompanying Professor Franklin were P. Orr, P. Cook, Mr. Artram, A. Patrick and Osgerby.
Robert Evans, son of Edward S. Evans, Detroit, founder of the National Glider Association, and M.L. Fast, of the General Motors Research club, were present at the airport.
The flights during the afternoon were not a part of any contests and were made because the state meet failed to take place in the morning.
Duncan made two flights in the Detroit-Gull owned by the Fisher "Y" club and one in the Franklin ship in which Osgerby crashed. Professor Franklin made two flights in the same ship and Osgerby made one flight in the Franklin before his last ill-fated take-off.
Scupholm today said a meeting of the Port Huron Glider Club will be held at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Chamber of Commerce.
(The Times Herald, [Port Huron, MI], August 18, 1930, pp. 1 & 7.
News Item 3:
FRANCIS [FENTON] L. OSGERBY DIES IN AIR MISHAP
Francis [Fenton] L. Osgerby, 29, fiancé of the late Miss Marguerite Kay, was injured Sunday in a glider accident at the Marysville, Mich. airport and died 15 minutes later, according to word received by Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth Kay, of Forres Avenue.
Osgerby apparently "froze to the controls" 400 feet aloft. The glider fell, injuring one spectator and narrowly missing a crowd of 200 persons.
Osgerby had been employed by the Detroit Edison Company.
Donald F. Walker, manager of the National Glider Association, was riding in the automobile which was being used to tow Osgerby's glider. Eye witnesses declared that throughout the fall, Osgerby did not move his controls. When he passed over the crowd, several persons said he seemed to be staring straight ahead and making no movement. Osgerby was said to have been in ill health lately, and it is thought that he may have fainted and been unconscious before he struck the ground. He had made more than 200 flights in this same glider.
(The Herald Press, [St. Joseph, MI], August 18, 1930, p.2.)
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FENTON L.
OSGERBY
1898 - 1930
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