Nov 20, 1919 – College Park, Maryland
Feb 3, 1920 – Chicago, Illinois
Feb 16, 1920 – Iowa City
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On January 14, 1920, flying a Curtiss R aircraft, Merrill Riddick landed at Dundak Field, Baltimore, Maryland, on his way to New York City from College Park. It had been very stormy when he left College Park, "and on the other side of Camp Meade wind got worse until I could hardly handle the ship. I could not get much altitude because of the bumps and side slips. The wind put me into the wind, would put the ship in 90° banks and several times into the first throw of a spin. It kept me working continually and finally my hands got tired from holding the wheel so I could hardly grip it anymore. At this time I was at 500 feet and landed in Baltimore. . . . I got two men to hold the ship. They kept it from turning over, but when I got back wind had blown it 200 yards backwards, damaging the tail skid, rudder and elevation." Riddick got soldiers from a local post to help him move it to place where stakes could be driven into the frozen ground and hold the airplane secure.
On March 15, 1920, Riddick offered his resignation to Chief of Flying James C. Edgerton. He said the resignation was regretful, but that he wanted to get in on a big oil boom in Montana.
On January 23, 1920, James Edgerton sent this memo to Riddick to account for his flying gear.
- Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration
