Marion and Harold got engaged in January of 1926, and were married in the summer of 1927. During that year, they traveled back and forth to see one another and to get to know each other’s families. In 1925, Marion’s family had moved from their farm in Milford, Delaware, to McKeesport, Pennsylvania. One day while they were visiting in Pittsburgh, Marion and Harold went to a local airfield to watch the airplanes fly. A man was selling rides in an airplane. They watched the plane take off and land, giving lots of rides, for several hours…but they were too afraid to go up in the plane. Finally, it was the last ride of the day. Marion and Harold decided that as long as they went up together, they could go ahead and risk the ride. She said they climbed in to the plane, held hands as tight as they could, and soared in to the sky. The ride cost 75 cents and lasted 15 minutes!
but it’s the kind of headgear
Marion and Harold
would have worn to fly!
There’s no way to know what kind of plane they flew in that day, but it would have been something like the one in the picture. It was likely open to the sky, and they probably wore leather helmets and goggles like those pictured.
During the rest of her life, Marion traveled across the country, and around the world in airplanes. But she always said that first plane ride was the biggest thrill of her life.
Harold Ely Merrick – Merrick Family Tree – #1
Marion Elizabeth Skewis Merrick – Skewis Family Tree – #1
Sources:
Merrick, Marion Elizabeth Skewis and McDermott, LeeAnne; When I Was A Little Girl; Self Published; Palo Alto, CA
Stearman Aircraft, Kansas State Historical Society, retrieved 29 Apr 2020