View source for Russel Merrill

'''Russel ("Russ") Hyde Merrill''' (April 8, 1894 – September 16, 1929) was an [[Alaska]]n [[aviator|aviation pioneer]].

==Early life==
Born on 8 April 1894 in [[Des Moines, Iowa]], he attended [[Grinnell College]] for three years before transferring to [[Cornell]].  Before graduating though, he enlisted in the [[U.S. Navy]] on 11 May 1917.  In the Naval Aviation Service during [[WWI]], he became Naval Aviator No. 469 on 12 March 1918.  He was then assigned to [[Cape May, New Jersey]], where he became chief pilot.  On 3 Dec. he retired from active duty, and completed his chemistry degree at Cornell on 1 Oct. 1919.  After graduation he was hired by the engineering department of [[Crown Zellerbach|Crown Willamette Paper Company]] in [[Camas, Washington]], but continued to fly in the Naval Reserve in [[San Diego]].  In 1921 he was made plant manager for Crown Willamette's facility in [[Floriston, California]].  After taking time off to be with his mother in [[Palo Alto, California]], Russel moved to [[Portland, Oregon]], and became general manager of Kern Clay Products and married Thyra Allen.<ref name="Russel">{{cite book |last1=Maclean |first1=Robert Merrill |last2=Rossiter |first2=Sean |title=Flying Cold |date=1994 |publisher=Epicenter Press |location=Fairbanks |isbn=9780945397335 |pages=5–11}}</ref>

On 5 April 5 1925, Russel responded to an advertisement offering a [[flying boat]] for sale in Portland, a [[Curtiss Model F]].  This was the start of an aviation partnership based in Alaska between Russel, Roy Davis and Cyril Krugner.  Departing [[Lake Washington]] on 19 May 1925, then landed at [[Ketchikan, Alaska]], on 26 May.  This was only the second nonmilitary flight up the [[West Coast of the United States|Pacific Coast]] to Alaska, the first being made in 1922 by [[Roy F. Jones]] and Gerald J. Smith.  Thus started the [[charter flight]]s and [[barnstorming]] flying business of the Roy J. Davis Airplane Company.<ref name=Russel/>{{rp|2,12-18}}

==Flying in Alaska==
Russel Merrill and Roy Davis flew from Juneau to Seward over the [[Gulf of Alaska]] 1-3 Aug. 1925, the first to do so since the [[First aerial circumnavigation]] of 1924.  Then, on 20 Aug. 1925, Merrill and Davis became the first to fly an airplane to Anchorage.  Then, at the end of August, Merrill and Davis flew Gus Gelles to [[Seldovia, Alaska]], and then onwards to [[Kodiak, Alaska]], the first time either town had seen an airplane.  Yet, tragedy struck on 5 Sept. 1925, when the wind and tide destroyed the plane on the East Chugach Island beach they had made a [[forced landing]] the day before.  In the summer of 1926, they purchased an [[Aeromarine 40]]B and flew it from [[Vancouver]] to Ketchikan, but the Merrill-Davis partnership ended in October.  Russel had accepted the chief pilot position for Anchorage Air Transport, Inc., consisting of two planes, a [[Travel Air 4000|Travel Air BW]] known as Anchorage No. 2 and a Travel Air CW, known as Anchorage No. 1.<ref name=Russel/>{{rp|26-37,40-50}}

On 8 Nov. 1927, Russel discovered a shorter path through the [[Alaska Range]] from Anchorage to the [[Kuskokwim River]] region.  Previously, pilots had to use Rainy Pass, which took twice as long.  The 3000 foot pass is now known as Merrill Pass.  Also that same month, Anchorage Air Transport built the first airplane hangar at Anchorage.  On 19 Aug. 1929, Anchorage Air Transport was sold and joined [[Wien Air Alaska|Wien Alaska Airways]], and the Bennett-Rodebaugh Company in forming Alaskan Airways, Inc.<ref name=Russel/>{{rp|104-110,159}}

Russel had already made two flights on 16 Sept. 1929, when he took off on a third.  This one carried a badly-needed compressor for the New York-Alaska Company mine on Bear Creek at Nyac, near [[Bethel, Alaska]].  He was not seen again, though an extensive search started three days later.  Finally, a piece of airplane fabric was discovered on a [[Tyonek, Alaska]], beach.<ref name=Russel/>{{rp|162-170}}<ref name=MF>{{cite web|last1=Municipality of Anchorage|title=About Merrill Field|url=http://www.muni.org/Departments/merrill_field/Pages/About.aspx|website=Municipality of Anchorage|accessdate=8 February 2015}}</ref>

==Legacy==
Anchorage Municipal Airport was renamed [[Merrill Field]] in the summer of 1930.  An [[aerodrome beacon]] at the field became the Russel Hyde Merrill Memorial Beacon on 25 Sept. 1932.  A bronze plaque dedicated at its base reads, "TO THAT DAUNTLESS PIONEER OF THE AIR RUSSEL HYDE MERRILL WHOSE LIFE'S AIM WAS THE DEVELOPMENT OF AVIATION IN ALASKA SEPTEMBER 16, 1929."  The plaque now resides in the Merrill Field Airport Manager's Office.<Ref name=Russel/>{{rp|170-172}}

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=MF>{{cite web|last1=Municipality of Anchorage|title=About Merrill Field|url=http://www.muni.org/Departments/merrill_field/Pages/About.aspx|website=Municipality of Anchorage|accessdate=8 February 2015}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
* [http://www.muni.org/merrill1/about.cfm Brief Alaska History of Russel Merrill]

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[[Category:1894 births]]
[[Category:1929 deaths]]
[[Category:Aviators from Alaska]]
[[Category:Aviators from Iowa]]
[[Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States]]
[[Category:Bush pilots]]
[[Category:Cornell University alumni]]
[[Category:People from Des Moines, Iowa]]
[[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1929]]