Dick Merrill Facts
A rare surviving 1936 Vultee V1-A, re-christened 'The Lady Peace II' in honor of Dick is on display at the Science Museum of Virginia's Virginia Aviation Museum at the Richmond, Virginia Airport. This plane was once owned by William Randolph Hearst. Hearst's son, Randolph Jr. was a personal friend of Dick's.
The financial backer of Dick's 1937 'Daily Express' coronation flight--- the first commercial round trip flight across the Atlantic--- was the crafty Ben "Sell 'em Short" Smith (who had been the target of a congressional investigation of the 1929 stock market crash), a wheeler-dealer promoter whose philosophy was to promote any scheme for financial gain. Although he was guaranteed a profit on the flight on the basis of a Hearst Newspaper contract alone, he cajoled Dick and co-pilot
Jack Lambie into autographing hundreds of coronation first day covers postmarked in London and New York, and selling them through the Walgreen's drug store chain (these frequently appear on eBay today). Smith ultimately made over $170,000 in profits from the flight (Dick saw just $3500 and a few free meals, Lambie netted $2500--- both mostly received from their appearance in a Monogram quickie,
Atlantic Flight (1937) made to capitalize on their achievement, a deal also brokered by Smith) and broke a verbal promise to give Dick the Lockheed, quickly selling it to the Russian government. In later years, Dick confessed that Ben Smith was probably the only man he'd ever hated. He actually thought about shooting him if they ever met again.
The following is the CAB report summary of the incident involving pilot Dick Merrill on 07 FEB 1948: Time: 13:09 Type: Lockheed L-649 Constellation Operator: Eastern Air Lines. Registration: NC112A. c/n / msn: 2533 First flight: 1947 Total airframe hrs: 1522 Captain: Dick Merrill. Crew: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 6. Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 63. Total: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 69. Airplane damage: Substantial. Location: 250 km (156.3 mls) ESE of Brunswick, GA (United States of America). Phase: En route. Nature of flight: Domestic Scheduled Passenger. Departure airport: New York-La Guardia Airport, NY (LGA/KLGA), United States of America. Destination airport: West Palm Beach International Airport, FL (PBI/KPBI), United States of America. Flightnumber: 611. Narrative: Flight 611 originated at Boston, for Miami, with stops scheduled at LaGuardia Field, N. Y., and West Palm Beach. The Constellation departed LaGuardia at 10:09. The aircraft climbed to the planned cruising level of 20,000 feet. At about 1309, No. 3 propeller failed and a portion of one blade was thrown through the fuselage. It entered the lower right side at the galley section, severing control cables, electrical wires and engine controls, came up through the floor, fatally injuring a purser and left through the upper left side. The cabin depressurized, heavy vibration was felt and all of the flight an
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