Dick Merrill

At a time when record-breaking pilots were treated as celebrities, pioneer aviators like Dick Merrill gained a unique status.

[1] Merrill had from an early age been intrigued by the exploits of the first flyers, and when he enlisted in World War I, he began learning to fly while stationed in France but returned home to work on the Illinois Central Railroad as a fireman.

By 1930, Merrill held the record for flying the longest cumulative distance and became the highest-paid airmail pilot, earning $13,000 in 1930 at ten cents per mile.

"[1] He had planned his transatlantic flight for some time but was unable to finance it on his pay as an Eastern Air Lines (EAL) pilot.

The aircraft, NC13770, had originally been built for Lieutenant Colonel George R. Hutchinson's proposed all-freight New York-London-Moscow airline, which never started up.

Using Eastern Air Lines mechanics, Merrill had extra fuel tanks installed and a 1,000 hp (750 kW) Wright Cyclone with a two-blade constant-speed prop fitted.

It was Richman's idea to fill empty spaces in the wings and fuselage with 41,000 ping pong balls, which it was hoped would allow the aircraft to float if it was forced down in the ocean.

[4] Furious that Richman had panicked, Merrill was forced to put down on a soft bog at Musgrave Harbour in the Dominion of Newfoundland.

[5] In 1937 Merrill was hired by Hearst Publishing to repeat the flight (co-piloted by 27-year-old Jack Lambie) in a Lockheed Model 10E Electra dubbed Daily Express.

Hearst papers on both sides of the Atlantic published the first pictures of each event, and Merrill earned the Harmon Trophy for 1937 for his achievement.

[2] Both Dick Merrill and Jack Lambie, his real-life "Coronation Flight" co-pilot and co-star in the film, received $2,500 for their roles in this movie.

He had become a fixture at the parties of the rich and famous, and it was at one of these that he met Toby Wing, a chorus girl who became a movie star, appearing in 52 features and shorts.

Merrill was 22 years Wing's senior, and shortly after their marriage she met Bob Hope who joked, "Toby it's nice to see you and I'm glad to see you brought your father along."

Merrill was too old to be commissioned during World War II, and instead signed on as a civilian pilot and flew the China-Burma-India (CBI) "Hump" in DC-3/C-47 Skytrains and C-46 Commandos.

"Flying the Hump" (over the Himalaya Mountains) to transport desperately needed supplies to troops in China from bases in India and Burma, was extremely dangerous.

CBI crews faced severe adverse conditions at "the top of the world" coupled with unpredictable weather, lack of radio aids/direction finders and Japanese fighter opposition.

In 1948, at 10,000 ft (3,000 m) off the Florida coast, Merrill's calm and skillful management of an in-flight emergency was evident when a propeller on an EAL Constellation tore through the fuselage and killed a steward instantly.