{"id":1929,"date":"2017-07-19T17:47:14","date_gmt":"2017-07-19T23:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/?page_id=1929"},"modified":"2024-02-07T11:44:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T18:44:41","slug":"roy-olin-garver","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/the-biographies\/roy-olin-garver\/","title":{"rendered":"Roy Olin Garver"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Martinsville, Illinois, February 12, 1892 \u2013 near Eastbourne, England, January 28, 1918).1<\/a><\/p>\n

Garver\u2019s father and grandfathers were Illinois farmers.2<\/a>\u00a0 In 1912 his father died, and the family moved to Decatur where Garver learned shorthand and worked as a stenographer at railroad offices.3<\/a>\u00a0 Around 1914 he moved to Washington, D.C., where he was a correspondence clerk at the Interstate Commerce Commission while also attending classes at George Washington University.4<\/a>\u00a0 He enlisted shortly after the U.S. entered the war and was sent to Ohio State University for ground school<\/a>, graduating August 25, 1917.5<\/a><\/p>\n

Garver was one of the eighteen men from this class at O.S.U. who were selected for training in Italy and thus among the 150 men of the \u201cItalian\u201d or \u201csecond Oxford detachment\u201d who sailed to England on the Carmania<\/i>. They departed New York for Halifax on September 18, 1917, and departed Halifax on September 21, 1917. After an uneventful Atlantic crossing the\u00a0Carmania<\/i> docked at Liverpool on October 2, 1917. There the men learned that they were not to go to Italy after all, but to repeat ground school at the Royal Flying Corps\u2019s No. 2 School of Military Aeronautics at Oxford University; while there Garver roomed with Raymond Joseph Payden.6<\/a><\/p>\n

In early November most of the men in the detachment went from Oxford to Grantham to attend machine gun school.\u00a0 Twenty men were selected by Elliott White Springs to go instead to flight school at the No. 1 Training Depot Squadron at Stamford; most of them had already had some flying experience. According to the\u00a0War Birds<\/i>\u00a0entry for November 6, 1917, Garver, William Ludwig Deetjen, and Philip Dietz, none of whom had flown before, were nonetheless included because they had helped with clerical work for the detachment. Springs\u2019s group left Oxford for Stamford on November 5, 1917.7<\/a>\u00a0 About ten days later Deetjen noted in his diary that \u201cthis morning Dietz & Carver & I went out to Burliegh House\u201d; he was almost certainly referring to Garver and a trip to Burghley House, the grand country house southwest of Stamford.8<\/a><\/p>\n

From Stamford, Garver apparently transferred early in the new year to No. 3 Training Squadron at Shoreham-by-Sea. In a letter to his mother dated January 11, 1918, he remarks that \u201cI wrote you a few days ago about coming down here\u201d\u2014 \u201cdown here\u201d presumably being England\u2019s south coast.9<\/a>\u00a0 Around the middle of the month he was joined there by second Oxford detachment member John Chadbourn Rorison, who had been a week behind Garver at ground school in Ohio.10<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Photo
Payden’s photo of Garver, courtesy of Joan Payden.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/a>On January 28, 1918, Garver was killed in a flying accident. It fell to Rorison to write to Garver\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n

Having for eight months been a very warm friend of Roy\u2019s, I am writing on this very sad occasion to extend to you the most sincere sympathy of his many friends here.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. Dear Roy left here for a flight about 9 o\u2019clock on the morning of Jan. 28, and landed at Eastbourne about 25 miles from here. He started away from the aerodome [sic<\/i>] at Eastbourne, and when he had attained the height of 200 feet, his machine turned to the right and resulted in a spiral nose dive, striking the ground just outside Eastbourne aerodome. He was removed to the Eastbourne military hospital, where he died at 3:30 p.m. The accident occurred at 11a.m., and he never regained consciousness.11<\/a><\/p>\n

A court of inquiry was held, which was \u201cof the opinion that the accident was due to the Pilot stalling his machine on a stick right hand turn resulting in the machine going into a spin from which he had not sufficient height to recover and crashing into ground with the engine full on.\u201d An incident casualty card summarizes the \u201cNature and Cause of Accident\u201d: \u201cStalled on right hand turn spun into ground due to error of judgement.\u201d12<\/a><\/p>\n

Unmentioned by Rorison and the court of inquiry write up is that Garver was flying a Sopwith Camel (B9282). The Camel was particularly tricky to learn to fly. \u201c[The engine] operated on a peculiar principle; the crankshaft stood still while the heavy cylinders rotated about it. This created, in effect, a ponderous gyroscope that made controlling the little Camel more a matter of calculated perfidy than intelligent response.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. A heedless bank to the right tucked the nose under and threw the aircraft into a vigorous spin.\u201d13<\/a>\u00a0 \u201c.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0it flipped into a spin very easily at low speeds. Consequently, in landing and taking off, a tremendous number of fatal accidents occurred.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u201d14<\/a><\/p>\n

Garver\u2019s death was the first in a number of deaths in training accidents involving American cadets flying Camels. A passage in the March 12, 1918, entry in\u00a0War Birds<\/i>\u00a0lists several Camel crashes, noting: \u201cAll in Camels and all doing right-hand spins.\u201d David Sinton Ingalls, a navy aviator training at Ayr, wrote in his diary on March 10, 1918: \u201cWell, there was a strike today. All the pupils refused to fly any more Camels.\u201d15<\/a>\u00a0 A table<\/a>\u00a0titled \u201cRatio of Fatalities in Flying Hours by Types of Machines\u201d included in Dwyer\u2019s \u201cReport on Air Service Flying Training Department in England\u201d from shortly after the war notes that ten American cadets were killed on Camels; the DH-4 comes in second with four.<\/p>\n

It is puzzling that Garver was flying a Camel at all so early in his training\u2014it was bruited that he had been on an Avro or a Pup, both more creditable.16<\/a>\u00a0 The casualty card notes that he had piled on twenty-eight solo flights and twenty-nine hours five minutes solo. This is less impressive than might appear at first glance: the flights and hours were almost certainly all, or nearly all, on Curtiss JN-4s. Springs, training at Stamford alongside Garver, accumulated a similar number of solo hours by mid-January 1918\u2014nearly all on Jennys.17<\/a>\u00a0 When Springs transferred to London Colney about the time Garver went to Shoreham, he moved up to another training plane, an Avro, and then a Sopwith Pup. It could be argued that the cause of Garver\u2019s accident was an \u201cerror of judgement\u201d on the part of whoever sanctioned his flying a Camel at this point in his training.\u00a0 \u00a0Garver\u2019s ground school classmate, Roland Hammond Ritter, on hearing of Garver\u2019s death, remarked that \u201cHe was rushed thru too fast and became overconfident.\u201d17a<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Garver was buried in the cemetery of St. Nicholas at Shoreham.18<\/a>\u00a0 In June 1920, at his mother\u2019s request, Garver\u2019s body was returned to the U.S.; he was buried in a cemetery not far from his birthplace.19<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

mrsmcq July 19, 2017<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Notes<\/h3>\n

(For complete bibliographic entries, please consult the list of\u00a0works and web pages cited<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

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1<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0For his place and date of birth, see Ancestry.com,\u00a0U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918<\/i>, record for Roy Olin Garver. The photo is a detail from a group photo<\/a> of Squadron 7 at the Ohio State University School of Military Aeronautics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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2<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Ancestry.com,\u00a01910 United States Federal Census<\/i>, record for George B Garver; and Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,\u00a01880 United States Federal Census<\/i>, records for Samuel Garver and for Milton Jones.\u00a0 February 7, 2024:\u00a0 I appear to be mistaken in identifying Milton Jones as Garver\u2019s maternal grandfather; the more likely candidate is John Edmondson Jones; see Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,\u00a01880 United States Federal Census<\/i>, record for John E. Jones, also a farmer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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3<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0On his father\u2019s death, see McCachern, \u201cGeorge Bushler Garver.\u201d On the family\u2019s move and his training and employment, see \u201cLieut. Roy Garver Killed in England\u201d and \u201cShorthand leads to Achievement.\u201d Note: newspaper reports give Garver the rank of lieutenant, but he did not live long enough to be commissioned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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4<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See his draft registration (cited above) for his employment in 1917; on his college attendance, see The George Washington University,\u00a0Bulletin<\/i>, 16.1, p. 261.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

5<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cGround School Graduations [for August 25, 1917].\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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6<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0On p. 26 of Payden,\u00a0J.R.: Joseph R. Payden, 1915-1925,<\/i>\u00a0a photo of Garver is reproduced with the inscription \u201cRoy Garver. My room mate at Oxford. Killed on a Pup. 1917. Eng.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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7<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0See\u00a0War Birds<\/i>\u00a0entry for November 6, 1917. For departure date, see Deetjen, diary entry for November 5, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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8<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Deetjen, diary entry for November 14, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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9<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0The letter is reprinted in \u201cLieut. Roy Garver Killed in England.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

10<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Doyle, \u201cWar Birds Pictorial,\u201d p. 33.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

11<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Rorison\u2019s letter is printed in \u201cLetters Tell Details about Garver\u2019s Death.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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12<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cGarver, R.O. (Roy O.)\u201d Note: the transcription of this card at this page renders \u201c3 T[raining] Squadron\u201das \u201c37 Squadron.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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13<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Reed and Roland,\u00a0Camel Drivers<\/i>, pp. 24-25.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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14<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Cobby,\u00a0High Adventure<\/i>, p. 95.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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15<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ingalls,\u00a0Hero of the Angry Sky<\/i>, p. 129.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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16<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Deetjen\u2019s diary entry for February 2, 1918: \u201cRoy Garver was killed in an Avro. We have not had the details yet.\u201d And see the caption to Payden\u2019s photo, cited above.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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17<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Springs,\u00a0Letters from a War Bird<\/i>, Chapter 3, which includes transcriptions from Springs\u2019s flight log.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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17a<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 Ritter, letter of February 3, 1918.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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18<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0See Rorison\u2019s letter in \u201cLetters Tell Details about Garver\u2019s Death\u201d; \u201cGarver, Roy O.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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19<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0McCachern, \u201cLieut Roy Olin Garver\u201d; \u201cGarver, Roy O.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Martinsville, Illinois, February 12, 1892 \u2013 near Eastbourne, England, January 28, 1918).1 Garver\u2019s father and grandfathers were Illinois farmers.2\u00a0 In 1912 his father died, and the family moved to Decatur where Garver learned shorthand and worked as a stenographer at railroad offices.3\u00a0 Around 1914 he moved to Washington, D.C., where he was a correspondence clerk … Continue reading “Roy Olin Garver”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1933,"parent":30,"menu_order":48,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1929","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1929"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8741,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1929\/revisions\/8741"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}