Dick Merrill

Dick Merrill
Merrill appeared in Atlantic Flight (1937) starring himself
Born	(1894-02-01)February 1, 1894 Iuka, Mississippi
Died	October 31, 1982(1982-10-31) (aged 88) Elsinore, California
Occupation	Aviator Actor
Spouse(s)	Toby Wing

Henry Tyndall "Dick" Merrill (February 1, 1894 – October 31, 1982) was an early aviation pioneer. Among his feats he was the highest paid air mail pilot, flew the first round-trip transatlantic flight in 1936, was Dwight D. Eisenhower's personal pilot during the 1952 presidential elections, set several speed records, and would go on to be Eastern Air Lines' most experienced pilot with over 36,000 hours until his retirement in 1961. In total, Merrill flew over 45,000 hours as pilot in command, covering over eight million miles.

At a time when record-breaking pilots were treated as celebrities, pioneer aviators like Dick Merrill gained a unique status. His most famous flight was a 1936 round-trip transatlantic flight that has gone down in the annals of flight as the "Ping Pong Flight." The following year, Merrill also completed the first commercial trans-Atlantic flight.

Born February 1, 1894 at Iuka, Mississippi, "Dick" Merrill was born into a family that prided itself as being descended from the famous frontier pioneer, Daniel Boone. Although his full name was Henry Tyndall, the name "Dick" was a childhood moniker that stuck with him for life. Brought up as a devout Catholic, he was a teetotaler in an age when the "hard-drinking" "fun-loving" aerial adventurer was seen as the norm. Considered very easy-going yet serious, his one foible, however, was that he was an inveterate gambler throughout his life.

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.

Merrill began his aviation career in earnest when he purchased a war-surplus Curtiss JN-4 Jenny in Columbus, Georgia in 1920 for $600, flying it at air shows through the 1920s briefly appearing with the Ivan Gates Air Circus in the mid-1920s. He eventually turned this into a career as an air mail pilot, flying the Richmond to Atlanta night route. 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.Eddie Rickenbacker later called him the "best commercial pilot" in the United States. Unlike some of his peers, Merrill was a deliberate and careful pilot, so well regarded that many celebrities (his friend Walter Winchell and even General Eisenhower during his 1952 presidential campaign) specifically requested him as a personal pilot. Merrill always would chalk up his successful flights more to luck than skill.