Noel Merrill Wien: Born to Fly - Paperback

by Noel Merrill Wien (Author), William Anders (Foreword by)

Fans of aviation and military history will enjoy this chronicle of one of the most accomplished and experienced pilots of his time, recognized for his incredibly diverse and in-depth knowledge of close to 150 types of aircraft, his mentoring of hundreds of young men and women, and 30,000 accident-free hours over the course of six decades of flying.

Author Biography

Merrill Wien's life of aviation began shortly after his birth in 1930 when the infant Wien flew with his parents in a laundry basket aboard his father's new Stinson. Son of pioneer bush pilot Noel Wien, Merrill soloed at sixteen years old, and got his commercial aviation license at nineteen, and his instrument rating at twenty years old.

He flew DC-3s for the family airline Wien Alaska Airlines until 1951 when he flew DC-4s for Pan American Airlines to Hawaii or Alaska and back. He joined the US Air Force in 1952, and he flew a C-119 Troop Carrier. Merrill flew top secret missions in Asia recovering parachutes with cameras in midair that had drifted over Russia tethered to balloons. After the Air Force, Wien returned to the family airline, and flew everything from bush planes to the four-prop engine Constellation, and Boeing 737 jets.

With his brother, Richard, and two friends, they started Merric Inc. which was an early Alaskan helicopter company flying the new Hiller UH-12E choppers. Later, Merrill flew the Lockheed L-1101 jumbo jet worldwide for a charter airline.

In retirement, he became a Confederate Air Force pilot, flying historic military planes including the cargo C-46, and the B-24, B-25 and B-29 bombers. Merrill is one of the most accomplished and experienced pilots of his time. He received the Wright Brothers "Master Pilot" award for fifty years of accident-free flying, and in 2014 he was inducted into the Alaska Aviation Legends for logging more than 33,000 hours in some 150 aircraft including helicopters. He is recognized for mentoring hundreds of young men and women and helping them pursue their own aviation dreams.

Major General William "Bill" Anders was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 8, the first manned voyage to orbit the moon. Anders shot the now famous photograph, Earthrise, the first picture taken of the earth from the moon.

Over a long and accomplished career Anders has received many awards, including the Distinguished Service Medals from the Air Force, NASA, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; the Air Force Commendation Medal; the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal for Exploration; and the American Astronautical Society's Flight Achievement Award.

Anders serves on the advisory committee to Seattle's nonprofit Museum of Flight, one of the largest independent air and space museums in the world. The museum's collection includes more than 150 historically significant air and spacecraft, and more than 140,000 students are served annually by the Museum's on-site and outreach educational programs.