Noel Merrill Wien: Born to Fly

by Noel Merrill Wien, William Anders (Foreword by)

Overview

Born into a family of aviators, Merrill Wien was destined to become a pilot.

His father, Noel Wien, was one of the first pilots to fly in Alaska and his life was full of firsts, including making the first round-trip flight between Asia and North America in 1929. His mother played a big role in the founding and development of Wien Alaska Airlines, the second-oldest scheduled airline in the United States and territories.

One of the most versatile and experienced pilots of his time, Merrill has flown just about every aircraft imaginable from DC-3s to Lockheed 1011s to historic military planes like the cargo C-46 and B-29 bomber to the Hiller UH-12E chopper. Although fundamentally modest by nature, family and friends encouraged Merrill to share his remarkable stories given his accomplishments and experiences with so many famous people and events. His tone is engagingly informal as he recounts crossing paths with such luminaries as Joe Crosson, Howard Hughes, Lowell Thomas Sr. and Lowell Thomas Jr., Sam White, Don Sheldon, Brad Washburn, Wally Schirra, and Bill Anders. He re-creates for readers his firsthand experiences flying top-secret missions for the Air Force, viewing the devastation of the Good Friday Earthquake in Anchorage, and the challenges of starting his own helicopter company, to name just a few.

His fascinating narrative is complemented by photographs from his personal archives. Includes a list of all the different aircraft Wien has been endorsed to fly at the back of the book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781943328406
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	04/19/2016
Pages:	210
Sales rank:	1,065,648
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Merrill Wien's life of aviation began shortly after his birth in 1930 when the infant Wien flew with his parents in a laundry basket aboard his father’s new Stinson. Son of pioneer bush pilot Noel Wien, Merrill soloed at sixteen years old, and got his commercial aviation license at nineteen, and his instrument rating at twenty years old.

He flew DC-3s for the family airline Wien Alaska Airlines until 1951 when he flew DC-4s for Pan American Airlines to Hawaii or Alaska and back. He joined the US Air Force in 1952, and he flew a C-119 Troop Carrier. Merrill flew top secret missions in Asia recovering parachutes with cameras in midair that had drifted over Russia tethered to balloons. After the Air Force, Wien returned to the family airline, and flew everything from bush planes to the four-prop engine Constellation, and Boeing 737 jets.

With his brother, Richard, and two friends, they started Merric Inc. which was an early Alaskan helicopter company flying the new Hiller UH-12E choppers. Later, Merrill flew the Lockheed L-1101 jumbo jet worldwide for a charter airline.

In retirement, he became a Confederate Air Force pilot, flying historic military planes including the cargo C-46, and the B-24, B-25 and B-29 bombers. Merrill is one of the most accomplished and experienced pilots of his time. He received the Wright Brothers “Master Pilot” award for fifty years of accident-free flying, and in 2014 he was inducted into the Alaska Aviation Legends for logging more than 33,000 hours in some 150 aircraft including helicopters. He is recognized for mentoring hundreds of young men and women and helping them pursue their own aviation dreams.

Major General William “Bill” Anders was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 8, the first manned voyage to orbit the moon. Anders shot the now famous photograph, Earthrise, the first picture taken of the earth from the moon.

Over a long and accomplished career Anders has received many awards, including the Distinguished Service Medals from the Air Force, NASA, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; the Air Force Commendation Medal; the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal for Exploration; and the American Astronautical Society's Flight Achievement Award.

Anders serves on the advisory committee to Seattle’s nonprofit Museum of Flight, one of the largest independent air and space museums in the world. The museum's collection includes more than 150 historically significant air and spacecraft, and more than 140,000 students are served annually by the Museum's on-site and outreach educational programs.

Read an Excerpt

EXCERPT 1: There were other cadets who also enjoyed a little unauthorized fun. One afternoon, two cadets, one of whom had about seventy-five hours civilian time, decided to meet quite a ways from the practice area for some dog fighting and formation. The one with previous flying time demonstrated to his friend how to do a low level slow roll. Not to be outdone, his friend also did one but didn’t know how much altitude could be lost if the slow roll was not done properly. On the recovery, he lost so much altitude that he hit a cactus and knocked about five feet off the right wing. The impact knocked the stick out of his hand and he knew he was going to crash. He put his arms in front of his head and waited for the inevitable. Seconds went by and no crash, so he looked up to see that he was flying level. There was about a foot remaining of the right aileron, which had jammed down on impact, giving enough left stick to keep the airplane level. He grabbed the stick and started thinking of an excuse. The other pilot distanced himself from the area as fast as he could. I was on the parade field when we saw the T-6 fly over with five feet gone from the right wing. We could not believe that it was still flying. The pilot wanted to land on the wheels but the powers that be would not let him. So, with the help of a chase plane, he was able to belly the airplane at a higher approach speed than normal. He tried to explain to his commanders that he had had a mid- air collision but he could not explain the cactus lodged in the wing. Eventually, the whole story came out and both pilots were punished. They were not washed out of the program, but they both had to walk tours on the parade ground during their off time and on weekends for the rest of the program and it continued after moving to advanced training.

Table of Contents

Foreword Introduction 1. The Early Years 2. Young Pilot 3. Paid to Fly 4. In the Army Now 5. Aircraft Commander 6. Special Assignments 7. A Civilian Again 8. Alaskan Adventures 9. Branching Out 10. A New Bush Plane 11. Ice Island Flying 12. From the Turboprop to the Jet Age 13. Turbulence for Wien Air Alaska 14. Life After Wien Air Alaska 15. For the Love of Flying Epilogue Acknowledgments Further Reading Aircraft Flown by Noel Merrill Wien

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“I first had the pleasure of flying with Merrill in ’56. He is the greatest pilot I have ever shared a cockpit with. I learned a great deal from Merrill about professionalism as a pilot. Not just in how he flew, but in how he treated everyone in his crew. Merrill’s story is a must read by anyone interested in aviation and Alaska.”—Jorgy Jorgensen

Interviews

"I’ll offer a hearty recommendation for folks to read Merrill’s book. It’s well written, and the gentleman has done some stuff! Great stories. I particularly enjoyed his description of his first flight during Air Force flight school."

Editorial Reviews

The best pilot anywhere. Need a Metalplane, need a Widgeon, need a B-29? Call Merrill!” —Phil Makanna, author of Ghosts: Vintage Aircraft of World War II

From the Publisher