Russel ("Russ") Hyde Merrill (April 8, 1894 – September 16, 1929) was an Alaskan 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 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.

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 Pacific Coast to Alaska, the first being made in 1922 by Roy F. Jones and Gerald J. Smith. Thus started the charter flights and barnstorming flying business of the Roy J. Davis Airplane Company.

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.

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  • Brief Alaska History of Russel Merrill