Tulsa, OK, Obit Archie J. Stowell =============================================================== USGenWeb NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free Information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. Other persons or organizations may NOT reproduce these electronic pages in any format for profit or for presentation. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. . The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. ----------------------------------------------------------------- THE MORNING TULSA DAILY WORLD September 13, 1922 TWO TULSA AVIATORS KILLED IN CRASH RESCUERS FIND BODIES OF MEN UNDER WREAKAGE Archie Stowell, Ex-Army Flier and Tommy Tucker the Victims WERE TRYING STUNTS Kelly Field Officer Missed Plane and Heard Crash as Machine Struck FLYING LOW OVER FIELD Believed Motor Failed, Fell Into Side Slip From Altitude of About 400 Feet After successfully negotiating his first lesson in stunt flying, Tommy (Pewee) Tucker, well-known amateur flyer, with Archie J. Stowell, 28, professional ex-army aviator who was instructing him, apparently was banking his machine approximately 350 feet high and away to the north, making ready to level up and drop in the Southwestern Curtis flying field northeast of the city, when suddenly the plane failed to right itself and crashed to earth instantly killing both men The plane which had been assembled by Tucker from parts he compiled during the last two years with a new motor purchased from the Curtis Factory, was apparently working perfectly as Tucker had just returned from a flight over Tulsa before he took Stowell up with him. When the plane started to fall it side-slipped all the way to the ground and the right wing and the body of the ship were demolished while the left wing was practically uninjured. Although the plane was assembled at the local field, attaches of the Southwest Curtis plant declared that it was one of the strongest ships here and had made at least two flights daily for more than three weeks. Ship in Good Condition Ray Moore, mechanic who lives at the field was the last man that talked to the fliers before their fatal trip, said that the men were anticipating no trouble just prior to the flight and that they were commenting on the splendid condition of the ship. Lieut. H. T. McCormick of Kelly Field, who is en route to Kansas City landed at the Tulsa field while the flyers were in the air, missed the plane and started to look around for it when he heard the crash. When he and Moore rushed to the scene of the acciden t, they found the machine completely wrecked and the bodies crushed and lifeless. Tucker, who was in the front seat was crushed beneath the motor while Stowell was mangled in the mass of tangled rods and debris. Persons at the field were practically in agreed upon the theory that the men ran out of gas in the air and did not have power to right the machine to volplane to earth, and slipped to their death. Lieutenant McCormick stated that although he did not see the machine when it fell he thought that the men were in a tail spin when their gas supply failed and they did not have power to pull out and right the machine. Moore advanced the opinion that the men had completed the lesson and had flown to the north to make their landing and that they ran out of gas while they were banking and had no power to level the plane. He declared that the wreck of the right wing, while the left is practically intact, appears to bear out his theory that the men were banking preparing to land! ing when the accident happened. Although Stowell was in the pilot seat, there was no way of telling who was driving the machine at the time of the accident, as there is a complete set of controls in both seats. Tucker Here Three Years Tucker, who had been working around the Southwest Curtis plant for almost three years, has been flying for some time, according to reports from the field. It was reported that he had taken a trip to Okmulgee and back by himself early this week and was making preparations for returning to his home in Morrilton, Ark., with his plane. He had completed his course and was just waiting to learn stunt flying from Stowell before he planned to leave Tulsa. The bodies of both men, which were horribly mutilated, their heads being distorted almost beyond recognition and most of the body bones broken, were taken to the Mowbray Undertaking company from which Stowell’s body was later removed to the Mitchell-Fleming parlors. Tucker’s sweetheart, Susie O’Brien of Dawson who was heart-broken by the tragedy, visited the undertaking . . . . Archie J. Stowell completed his flying schooling by graduating from the University of Texas at Waco on October 12, 1918. He served in France during World War I as an aviator. At the time of his death he was an employee of the Tulsa Police Department and besides giving stunt flying lessons, he performed in aerial circuses throughout the Midwest.. ARCHIE was born in Hartford, Mich., 14 June 1894, d. 12 Sept. 1922, Tulsa, Okla., m. 1920, Betty Stines, dau. of Mrs. T. W. Stines, Tulsa, Okla.