"Stunt Flight"

When Pilots Henry Tindall ("Dick") Merrill and John S. Lambie, on leave from Eastern Air Lines, flew to England fortnight ago in 21 hr., 3 min. (TIME, May 17), loose-spoken Radio Commentator Boake Carter snapped into his microphone: "Stunt flights across the ocean had their place at one time. Now Aviation has advanced beyond that point. Hopping to London to pick up some Coronation pictures and then fly back again may be a spectacular thing--but what does it contribute to the industry? Nothing as far as one can see. The country doesn't want that kind of pilot addicted to the lure of this kind of flight to fly it around the country."

In London Pilot Merrill hotly protested that his trip was no "stunt"' but "a pioneering commercial venture in aviation," and in Manhattan Eastern Air Lines officials pointed out that passengers constantly request to be "put on Dick Merrill's plane." But some professional aviators agreed with Boake Carter, pointing out such facts as that Pilot Merrill relied greatly on a Sperry gyropilot in his jaunt but did not bother to test it or learn fully how it worked before starting.

To such criticisms Pilots Merrill & Lambie presently made the best answer--another faultless crossing of the Atlantic. Laden with photographs of the Coronation, 15,000 "covers" and stamps for philatelists, they took off from Southport in his Wasp-motored Lockheed Electro. last week three days after reaching Croydon. Flying blind most of the way over the ocean, Merrill & Lambie dropped down at Squantum, Mass., to check their gas supply, immediately dashed on to Floyd Bennett Field, which they reached 24 hr., 22 min. after leaving Southport. Their backer, Wall Street Operator Ben Smith who incorporated under the extraordinary title "Anglo-American Good-Will Coronation Flight Corp.," at once set about selling his exclusive set of pictures to U. S. magazines and newspapers at fat prices (see p. 17). To Flyers Merrill & Lambie will go 90% of the proceeds.

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