The Times News

MERRILL AND LAMBIE END OCEAN FLIGHT
Land at London After 22 1/2 Hours: Encounter Rain Over Canada
FIRST ATLANTIC AIR CROSSING OF YEAR

LONDON, May 10.—(UP).—
Henry (Dick) Merrill and John Lambie, co-pilot, today completed the season's first trans-Atlantic flight when they landed at Croydon airport at 6:30 p. m., after stopping briefly at Essex, 20 miles northeast of London.
The flight took 22 1/2 hours.
Merrill had hoped to cut the time to 18 hours.

NEW YORK, May 10. (UP)—
Dick Merrill was flying over the North Atlantic early today, well on his way to London to attend the coronation of King George VI.
The veteran transport pilot, who has flown the Atlantic twice, was accompanied by Co-Pilot Jack Lambie.
Merrill, piloting a Lockheed Electra transport plane, took off from Floyd Bennett airport here at 3:35 p. m. (EST) yesterday and made good time up the coast with a tailwind helping him along.
He ran into rain over Canada's maritime provinces, but radio advices from the plane to Eastern airlines indicated he was having no difficulties as he sped over Newfoundland and headed for the open sea.
The flight was encased in some mystery, as Merrill declined to reveal up to the moment of starting whether or not an unidentified backer of the flight—reportedly a New York broker—would fly with him.
He had a 20-mile tailwind boosting him along on the northeast leg to Newfoundland, and expected a 35-mile northwest wind from there out over the Atlantic. There were storms over the Irish coast.
Merrill dickered with Department of Commerce officials before he climbed into his plane, in an effort to get permission for Milton S. Untermeyer, his backer to accompany him.
Untermeyer had no permit, however, and officials made him stay home. Merrill was accompanied by his co-pilot, Jack Lambie.
The flier was noticeably peeved as he crawled into the control room. He was piloting the plane when it took off.