Echoes from Dawn Skies

Early Aviators: A Lost Manuscript Rediscovered

Frederick Warren Merriam

• Publisher: Air World
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781526726230
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

No one could doubt that Frederick Warren Merriam was one of the earliest and most important of Britain’s aviation pioneers. Indeed, he taught many of the others to fly; men such as Air Chief Marshal Sir Philip Joubert de la Ferte, Air Commodore P.F.M. Fellowes (who led the aerial Houston Everest Expedition), and Sub-Lieutenant R.A.J. Warneford VC, the first pilot to down a Zeppelin. In his later years, Merriam decided that he wanted to compile a book that presented ‘a more personal and intimate picture than has yet been produced by aviation history writers of the civil pioneers of British flying’. It was no simple task. ‘Some two years ago, ’ Merriam continued, ‘I conceived an idea and set to work most energetically to hunt up all the survivors of those wonderful days, to ask them if they would each contribute a story of a personal nature, something that had never before been published. It was a tall order and admittedly my hopes were not too high of finding sufficient material of the sort to fill a book. A tireless search ensued for more than a year. Many obstacles and disappointments assailed me. Of some “oldtimers” no trace could be found, others had passed on and one or two were too tired to trouble. However, after a little gentle persuasion [many] made the effort.’ The remarkable collection of stories that Merriam gathered together was never published, his death in 1956 curtailing the project. For more than sixty years the manuscript lay hidden away, all but forgotten, until it was rediscovered in 2013.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Book title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• A Note from the Author’s Family
• Preface
• Chapter 1 The Dawn of a Great Era
• Chapter 2 Famous Brothers and Balloon FashionsHugh Oswald Short
• Chapter 3 Heavier than Air
• Chapter 4 Wake Up England
• Chapter 5 Expressly Dedicated to Eastchurch
• Chapter 6 The “Hopper”
• Chapter 7 Another “Eastchurcher”
• Chapter 8 Lest We Forget
• Chapter 10 “Airy Somethings”
• Chapter 11 “The Flying Yachtsman”
• Chapter 12 A Mark in History
• Chapter 13 Born to Fly and Design
• Chapter 14 Two of the Giants of Aviation
• Chapter 15 Henri Marie Jullerot
• Chapter 16 Royal Occasions
• Chapter 17 Birds of a Feather
• Chapter 18 The Pashley Brothers
• Chapter 19 Brains Minus Luck
• Chapter 20 “Streamline” Percival
• Chapter 21 Founder of the Australian Flying Corps
• Chapter 22 Work Well Done
• Chapter 23 A Record “Breaker”
• Chapter 24 A Landmark
• Chapter 25 Our Engine Genius
• Chapter 26 Better Be Born Lucky than Rich
• Chapter 27 A Friend in “Deed”
• Chapter 28 Thanks to the Press
• Chapter 29 Aerobatics
• Chapter 30 “Opposite Numbers”
• Conclusion
• Appendix A Merriam’s Pupils
• Appendix B Concept and Execution
• Index