Lieutenant Merrill Samuel Taylor was a Canadian flying ace during World War I. He was credited with seven aerial victories while flying a Sopwith Camel fighter for the Royal Naval Air Service, and later, the Royal Air Force. He touched off the air battle that resulted in the death of the war's leading ace, Manfred von Richthofen, on 21 April 1918. On 2 May 1918, he killed German ace Hans Weiss for his fifth victory. Taylor was killed in action by Franz Büchner on 7 July 1918.