4646 AHAH march 2016march 2016
treacherous undertaking. One night, with an
almost empty fuel tank, he had to roll the aircraft
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searching the woods, wondering aloud where they
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called out.
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mail, he even made money doing it. By 1930, when
newly formed airlines were beginning to take over
the airmail business, he boasted a two-year period
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and earned an unprecedented $13,000 a year.
During those airmail years he learned to supple-
ment his income through gambling, a risky enter-
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early winnings helped the young bachelor drive
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with a lion cub named Princess Doreen in an era
when pilots embellished their derring-do reputa-
tion with exotic pets and fancy cars.
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stock market crash, and Merrill found himself
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As the Depression deepened, the holding com-
pany was forced to sell out to General Motors in
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December 1934; he would assume control of the
airline four years later.
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ZMKWOVQbML\PI\PMPILIKY]QZMLUWZM\PIVIXQTW\Dick clearly was a public relations asset, whose
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men in strategic cities, Rickenbacker asked him to
inaugurate each new aircraft in following years,
uncharacteristically yielding the spotlight in return
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Merrill delivered it from Burbank to Miami in a
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ickenbacker demonstrated his support in
1936 when he granted the young captain
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the Atlantic. Merrill had persuaded two
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backer, a New Orleans riverboat gambler, was
forced to pull out after losing everything in a night
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who bred Kentucky Derby–winning race horses,
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of sending Merrill on a suicide mission. Dick, who
had lined up a long-range Bellanca to make the
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Determined to try for a new record, MerrillBOGGED DOWN After
a panicky Richman
jettisoned 500 gallons
of fuel in a storm,
Merrill landed Lady
Peace in a bog on
Newfoundland on
September 14, 1936.