Glenn Odekirk (born
Waseca, MinnesotaWaseca is a city in Waseca County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 8,493 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Waseca County.U.S...
9 May 1905 - died New York January 12, 1987), was an American aerospace engineer who made significant contributions to the work of
Hughes AircraftHughes Aircraft Company was a major American defense contractor founded in 1932 by Howard Hughes in Culver City, California as a division of Hughes Tool Company...
.
The son of Edward John and Louise (Lewis) Odekirk, Glenn, also know by his nickname 'Ode' was an
Oregon State UniversityOregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are over 200 academic degree programs offered through the university...
engineerEngineers are concerned with developing economical and safe solutions to practical problems, by applying mathematics and scientific knowledge while considering technical constraints. The term is derived from the Latin root "ingenium," meaning "cleverness"...
, graduating in 1927. During the 1930s and through World War II 'Ode' was the assistant to the president of
Hughes AircraftHughes Aircraft Company was a major American defense contractor founded in 1932 by Howard Hughes in Culver City, California as a division of Hughes Tool Company...
, and had a very close, professional relationship with the man who was president, the billionaire
Howard HughesHoward Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American aviator, engineer, industrialist, film producer, film director, philanthropist, and one of the wealthiest people in the world. He gained fame in the late 1920s as a maverick film producer, making big budget and often controversial films like Hell's Angels,...
.
Glenn Odekirk (born
Waseca, MinnesotaWaseca is a city in Waseca County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 8,493 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Waseca County.U.S...
9 May 1905 - died New York January 12, 1987), was an American aerospace engineer who made significant contributions to the work of
Hughes AircraftHughes Aircraft Company was a major American defense contractor founded in 1932 by Howard Hughes in Culver City, California as a division of Hughes Tool Company...
.
The son of Edward John and Louise (Lewis) Odekirk, Glenn, also know by his nickname 'Ode' was an
Oregon State UniversityOregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are over 200 academic degree programs offered through the university...
engineerEngineers are concerned with developing economical and safe solutions to practical problems, by applying mathematics and scientific knowledge while considering technical constraints. The term is derived from the Latin root "ingenium," meaning "cleverness"...
, graduating in 1927. During the 1930s and through World War II 'Ode' was the assistant to the president of
Hughes AircraftHughes Aircraft Company was a major American defense contractor founded in 1932 by Howard Hughes in Culver City, California as a division of Hughes Tool Company...
, and had a very close, professional relationship with the man who was president, the billionaire
Howard HughesHoward Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American aviator, engineer, industrialist, film producer, film director, philanthropist, and one of the wealthiest people in the world. He gained fame in the late 1920s as a maverick film producer, making big budget and often controversial films like Hell's Angels,...
. Odekirk met Hughes on the set of his movie
Hell's AngelsHell's Angels is a American epic war film, directed by Howard Hughes and starring Jean Harlow, Ben Lyon, and James Hall. The film, which was produced by Hughes and was written by Harry Behn and Howard Estabrook, centers on the combat pilots of World War I...
, and Hughes was very impressed with him. For several years, the two flew around the country together, testing the young engineer's ideas and arguing constantly over the most trivial matters of airplane construction.
It was Odekirk who carefully examined airplane after airplane during the 1930s, to find the one Hughes eventually used to set his record-breaking round-the-globe flight of 91 hours. A plane Odekirk helped design during 1935, known to historians as the
Hughes H-1 RacerThe H-1 was a racing aircraft built by Hughes Aircraft in 1935. It set a world airspeed record and a transcontinental speed record across the United States...
, set a world speed record of 352.39 miles per hour in September of that year, beating Raymond Delmotte's (of France) record of 314.32 miles per hour. The plane was revolutionary for its time and was one of the first planes in history to sport retractable landing gear and special
countersunkA countersink is a conical hole cut into a manufactured object, or the cutter used to cut such a hole. A common usage is to allow the head of a countersunk bolt or screw, when placed in the hole, to sit flush with or below the surface of the surrounding material...
screws and flat rivets to reduce wind resistance. Odekirk's most famous project was the work he contributed to the legendary H-4 Hercules and 'Ode' was aboard when Hughes piloted the plane on its one and only flight on September 2, 1947.
According to "
The Ouderkerk Family Saga 350 Years in America, Chapter: Glenn Odekirk & Howard Hughes page 180, Glenn Odekirk was not on the Spruce Goose. See page 181 paragraph 4; Glenn Odekirk recalls that day. "I dropped Hughes down on the dock and he said to me, 'Odie, you don't mind not being aboard while I taxi'"...and I said, "Oh, come on." "The fellows back there (the Brewster committee) were giving him a bad time and told him the thing would never fly. So that is when I knew real well that he would take off if possible. I know darn well if it feels right, you are going to fly it." Odekirk stay behind. Why? "Because Mr. Hughes didn't want another pilot on board because someday someone would come out and say that Howard Hughes didn't fly it, so-and-so did."
In the Howard Hughes biopic
The AviatorThe Aviator is a 2004 American biographical drama film, directed by Martin Scorsese and based on the life of Howard Hughes, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. The film draws largely upon a biography by Charles Higham...
,
Matt RossMatthew Brandon Ross is an American actor best known for his role as Alby Grant in the HBO series, "Big Love."-Filmography:*Urusei Yatsura 2 *Desperation Rising *PCU *Twelve Monkeys...
portrayed Odekirk.