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NOEL MERRILL WIEN
Born to Fly
An Autobiography
Foreword by
Major General Bill Anders
Chairman, Heritage Flight Museum
Apollo 8
Text and photographs © 2016 by Noel Merrill Wien, except as noted
Foreword © 2016 by Major General William Anders
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Wien, Noel Merrill, 1930- author.
Title: Noel Merrill Wien, born to fly / Noel Merrill Wien.
Other titles: Born to fly
Description: Portland, Oregon : Alaska Northwest Books, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015041462 | ISBN 9781943328406 (pbk.) ISBN 9781943328413 (e-book) ISBN 97819433284958 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Wien, Noel Merrill, 1930- | Air pilots—United States—Biography. | Aeronautics—Alaska—History.
Classification: LCC TL540.W5133 A3 2016 | DDC 629.13092—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015041462
Front cover, left: This is Howard Wright’s Hamilton Metalplane, the same model that my dad flew in the 1929 historic first round-trip flight between North America and Asia. What a thrill for me to have been able to fly it. Photo courtesy of Phil Makanna/Ghosts; center: A recent photo of me wearing a cap with the Heritage Flight Museum’s logo. Photo courtesy of Phil Makanna/Ghosts; right: Me as a toddler in pilot gear. Back cover, left: Taken in Tokyo while on a Genetrix mission, 1955; center: Wiley Post and Will Rogers arriving on the Chena River near Fairbanks, 1935; right: Bill Anders on my left wing during a formation flight. Photo © Lyle Jansma. Chapter opening airplane clip art © Rui Matos | Dreamstime.com
Edited by Janet Kimball
Designed by Vicki Knapton
Published by Alaska Northwest Books®
An imprint of
Graphic Arts Books
P.O. Box 56118
Portland, Oregon 97238-6118
503-254-5591
Contents
12. From the Turboprop to the Jet Age
13. Turbulence for Wien Air Alaska
14. Life After Wien Air Alaska
Aircraft Flown by Noel Merrill Wien
Foreword
Imagine the surprise of an Air Force primary flight instructor when he finds out that one of his first students could land the aircraft better than he could on that student’s very first flight. Imagine the young instructor’s shock when he learns that his aviation cadet student, Merrill Wien, had over 1,500 hours flying time in various aircraft and was a qualified airline pilot in the twin engine Douglas DC-3 and the four engine Douglas DC-4, having flown for Wien Alaska Airlines and Pan American Airways prior to USAF service—and was also a certified Link Trainer operator! The USAF instructor’s surprise was made possible because the ever humble “student,” Merrill Wien, had not bragged about his background when he was initially processed into the Korean War–era US Air Force. Modesty is a Wien family trait.
I got to know Merrill when he joined our fledgling Heritage Flight Museum at Skagit Bayview Airport, north of Seattle. Because of his vast flying experience we made him our Director for Flight Safety and he flew our T-6 “Texan” US Army Air Corps trainer aircraft in formation with us at local air shows. Further, I had the honor of nominating the flying patriarch of the Wien family, Merrill’s father, Noel Wien, into the National Aviation Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 2010. The senior Wien’s pioneering of Alaska bush and airline flying is legendary, but no more so than that of his son Merrill. Indeed, Noel’s genes have produced several generations of fine aviators and flight attendants.
Noel Merrill Wien: Born to Fly is a great read for pilots, flight instructors, aviation buffs, and historians. It covers Alaskan bush flying and airline flying through the formation of Wien Alaska Airlines and subsequent leveraged buyout and liquidation. The Cold War found Merrill involved in little known covert flying in the very far north. Following military service, there was historic warbird flying and much more, as experienced through the logbook notes and vivid recollections of one of the finest pilots and nicest individuals I have had the pleasure to meet and fly with. Indeed, Merrill