Up for auction "Ping Pong Flight" Aviator Dick Merrill Hand Signed Index Card.  

ES - 2803

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. 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. 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. 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. A later compatriot, Merton Meade, related an anecdote that

summed up Merrill's flying "luck." "Dick often said he'd rather

be lucky than good. When Eddie Rickenbacker owned Eastern he always insisted on

Dick flying the airplane whenever he had to travel. Dick always told this

story: 'But Captain, you've got a hundred pilots on the line better than me.'

'I know, Merrill, but you're the luckiest son of a bitch I've got, and I'd

rather fly behind a lucky pilot than a good one any day!' Typical self-effacing

comment by Dick… I doubt there ever WAS a better airline pilot than Dick

Merrill."  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. Things changed when he met millionaire

singer Harry Richman, famed

for Puttin' on the Ritz.

After taking in the singer's show in Miami, Merrill "planted" the

idea for a round-trip flight of the Atlantic. He brazenly declared that they

"take the plane to Europe… then we'll gas her up and fly her back. It's

never been done." Richman, who had recently gained his pilot's

license, had been able to secure a Vultee V-1A capable of making the flight. 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.

Since then it had served a number of pilots in various record setting flights;

in 1935 Jimmy Doolittle used

the aircraft to make a record 11-hour-59-minute transcontinental flight,

and six weeks later Leland

Andrews repeated the flight, then used it to set a

long-distance speed record between Los Angeles and Mexico City. Merrill and Richman extensively modified the

Vultee V-1A for the flight. 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. The most modern equipment was sought out including the Hooven Radio

Direction Finder (licensed to Bendix). 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.

After modifications were carried out, they took off for London on September 2, 1936. The two aviators were a

"odd couple" with Richman flamboyant while Merrill was always the

studied professional. In a later interview, Merill revealed a peculiar

predilection to perfume. When flying, he usually had a vial of Surrender or Evening

in Paris in his pocket, stealing an occasional sniff over the

Atlantic.

When they were 600 miles (970 km) off the coast of England, the pair

ran into bad weather and eventually decided to put down in Llandilo (now spelled Llandeilo), Wales,

about 175 miles (282 km) west of London. The flight took 18 hours and 36

minutes, the fastest Atlantic crossing to date. The next day Merrill and

Richman completed their flight to London. While in England, Richman, ever the

showman, christened the Vultee, the Lady Peace.

On September 14, they began the return flight from Southport, England. During

the flight, while bucking headwinds, Richman decided to dump 500 gallons of

fuel, leaving them with insufficient fuel to make New York City. Furious that Richman had panicked, Merrill was

forced to put down on a soft bog at Musgrave

Harbour in the Dominion of Newfoundland.

After minor repairs and refueling, a week later they landed in New York. The

usually easy-going relationship between the two pilots had been strained but

they ended up as friends again.

The round-trip flight cost Richman $360,000, and is known in aviation

history as the "Ping Pong Flight." Richman sold autographed ping pong

balls from the flight for years after.[5]