Anglo- American Flight 1937

1937

Anglo-American Goodwill Coronation Flight - the intention of this flight was to prove the possibilities of commercial Atlantic flights. Captain Dick Merrill and co-pilot Jack Lambie, set off from Floyd Bennett Airfield, New York in the Lockheed Electra 10-E NR 16059, named the 'Daily Express'. On the way they got lost over London and landed at North Wealde, they then continued to Croydon Airport. The flight took 20 hours and 27 minutes, arriving at 6.37 p.m. on 10 May. They brought with them photographs of the destruction of the Hindenburg which had occurred two days earlier on 6 May.

Coronation flight plane

7000 miles in 46 flying hours

At midnight of 12/13 May, Jack Lambie purchased £270 worth of Coronation stamps from the GPO in London for sale on their return to the US. He then travelled down to Southport Sands to meet up with Dick Merrill.

On 13 May Captain Merrill flew the 'Daily Telegraph' down to Southport Sands. A flight should have rushed newsreels of the Coronation to meet up with Merrill and Lambie for the return flight to New York. The film did not arrive due to the connecting plane being delayed by fog, so only still photographs could be taken along with about 15,000 souvenir covers. They left at 9.13 p.m. and took 24 hours and 22 minutes to reach Floyd Bennett Field, New York, (landing on 14 May at 4.35 p.m. local time).

One of the few covers signed by Dick Merrill and Jack Lambie

The souvenir covers were postmarked in New York on 8 May. The 1½d Coronation stamp was then used on its first day for the return flight with covers being postmarked in London at 2.15 a.m. 13 May. On arrival in New York they were again postmarked May 14 5 PM'. The covers also have two cachets - blue for NY to London, and red for the return flight. Some covers were signed by Dick Merrill and a few were also signed by Jack Lambie.

About 20 covers were also postmarked in Southport with George VI and Edward VIII definitive stamps - (postmarked Southport at 6.30 a.m.) - no cachets were applied to these covers.

Merrill had successfully proved that speedy and dependable flight service between Europe and the United States was possible with this flight.

Henry Tyndal Merrill - 'Dick' - 1893 : 1982

Dick Merrill started to learn how to fly in France during WWI. The war ended as he completed his training and he returned to the States to work as a fireman on the Illinois Central Railroad.

In 1920 he bought a Curtiss JN4 'Jenny' for $600 at a war surplus sale in Columbus, Georgia and then flew with various air circus for a number of years before becoming a highly successful air mail pilot.

From 1928 to 1930, he flew the night mail run from Richmond to Atlanta, never cancelling a trip because of bad weather. He held the record for the number of air-miles flown and earned $13,000 in 1930 at ten cents per mile.

Captain Merrill

Captain Merrill moved on to join Eastern Airlines and worked for them until 1961 - with a record of 218 million air miles flown. In 1936 he flew Trans-Atlantic with the singer Harry 'Puttin on the Ritz' Richman, (who owned the airplane). This flight became famous as Richman insisted on loading it with ping-pong balls to aid buoyancy. The second flight was made with 27 year old co-pilot Jack Lambie (above).

In July 1937 Merrill starred in the fictional film 'Atlantic Flight', together with Jack Lambie - after this he returned to Eastern Airlines. He married the 22 year old actress Toby Wing, and despite their age difference, they remained happily married until Dick's death.

Merrill's fame as a calm and reliable pilot led to frequent requests by the rich and famous for him to fly them, including General Eisenhower during his 1952 presidential campaign.

Jack Lambie -

Born in the Philippines in 1910. He became a pilot for the US Army from 1933 to 1936 when he joined Eastern Airlines as a co-pilot. Lambie received $2500 as co-pilot of the 1937 flight.

He retired from EAL as Captain and Director of Operations for training in the 1970's.

Contact : Malcolm Sanders : kg6gb@hotmail.com