Nick Mamer

{{Short description|American aviator (1897-1938)}} {{Infobox person |name=Nick Mamer |image=Nick Mamer.jpg |image_size=240 |caption=Mamer in March 1929 |birth_name=Nicholas Bernard Mamer |birth_date=c. 1897 |birth_place= |death_date={{death date|1938|1|10|1897|mf=y}} (age 40) |death_place=Gallatin County, Montana, U.S. |death_cause=Plane crash, Northwest Flight 2 |resting_place =Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park Seattle, Washington |occupation=Aviator |spouse=Faye C. Carey Mamer (1901–1958) (m.1925–1938, his death) |children=Patricia Ann Mamer Lee (1927–1995) |module = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes |allegiance = {{flagu|United States}} |branch = 15px U.S. Army |rank =  |unit = 15px Signal Corp, 15px Aviation Section |service_years = 1917–1919 |battles = World War I }} }} '''Nicholas Bernard Mamer''' (1897 – January 10, 1938) was a noted American aviation pioneer and pilot in the Pacific Northwest during the 1920s and 1930s.<ref name=ktlewfr>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qaFfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CzIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1313%2C699692 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=Idaho |title=Nick Mamer, pilot of huge liner, known to Lewiston friends as one of pioneers in West air service |date=January 11, 1938 |page=2}}</ref><ref name=fmsaplws>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wSdWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wOMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2888%2C3165424 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=Spokane, Washington |agency=(photo) |title=Famous air pilot lost with ship |date=January 11, 1938 |page=1}}</ref><ref name=waotpk>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vjggAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aFQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6370%2C2118604 |work=Spokane Daily Chronicle |location=Washington |title="We are over the peak -- nothing worries us now" |date=January 11, 1938 |page=6}}</ref>

==Early career== Mamer learned to fly in San Diego and served with the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps of the United States Army during World War I. He later settled in Spokane, Washington, establishing the Mamer Flying Service and Mamer Air Transport firms at Parkwater airstrip, renamed Felts Field in 1927. Mamer was a flight instructor and charter pilot, and was involved in early forest fire patrol flights for the U.S. Forest Service. Among his flight pupils was Bob Johnson, a well-known aviation pioneer in Missoula, Montana.

==''Spokane Sun-God''== thumb|150px|left|''Spokane Sun-God'' at Felts Field in 1929 Mamer is perhaps best remembered for undertaking a pioneering long-distance endurance flight in 1929 that began on August 15. The flight utilized a Buhl Airsedan biplane named the ''Spokane Sun-God''; Mamer was at the controls, and was accompanied by Art Walker acting as mechanic and refueling hoseman.<ref name=fltast>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Ew5WAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LuIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6240%2C3277085 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=Spokane, Washington |title=Spokane Sun-God flight all set |date=August 15, 1929 |page=1}}</ref><ref name=rdtsr>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9c5XAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tPQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5673%2C2909835 |work=Spokane Daily Chronicle |location=Washington |title=Sun-God ready to soar |date=August 15, 1929 |page=1}}</ref>

Beginning in Spokane, Mamer and Walker flew south to San Francisco, east to New York City, and back to Spokane five days later, without intermediate stops. Aerial refueling was accomplished at a number of points along the flight path (one was over Missoula on the return trip). Mamer and Walker did not sleep during those five days (120 hours) aloft. They set a number of records, one of which was a world's record non-stop flight of {{convert|7200|mi}}.<ref name=otoland>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-c5XAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tPQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5745%2C3926313 |work=Spokane Daily Chronicle |location=Washington |title=Sun God is ordered to land |date=August 20, 1929 |page=1}}</ref><ref name=cherspk>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GQ5WAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LuIDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6329%2C4637437 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=Seattle, Washington |title=10,000 citizens cheer daring Sun-God aviators' return to Spokane |date=August 21, 1929 |page=1}}</ref><ref name=parad>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-s5XAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tPQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1916%2C4214851 |work=Spokane Daily Chronicle |location=Washington |title=Sun God aviators appear in parade |date=August 21, 1929 |page=1}}</ref><ref name=redeag>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zO0xAAAAIBAJ&sjid=deIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3617%2C3685103 |work=Reading Eagle |location=Pennsylvania |agency=Associated Press |title=Fliers span continent twice on non-stop hop |date=August 21, 1929 |page=1}}</ref>

==Death== [[File:Marguerite Guthrie and Nicholas Mamer - DPLA - 59066a789c8e1dc1cff4324bdb50b289.jpg|thumb|Mamer with Marguerite Guthrie, sister of Murray Kenneth Guthrie]]

By the late 1930s, Mamer had flown over a million miles (1.6 million km) and had relocated to Seattle; he was employed by Northwest Airlines, working as a pilot on the Seattle-Minneapolis route. In early 1938, he was at the controls of Flight 2, a Lockheed Super Electra, when the plane crashed in Montana on the afternoon of January 10.<ref name=innmlmt>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qaFfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CzIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1769%2C691688 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=Idaho |agency=Associated Press |title=Airliner crashes northeast of Bozeman killing 10, including Nick Mamer, veteran aviator |date=January 11, 1938 |page=1}}</ref><ref name=bbuptk>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fxZPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ux8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=1557%2C330790 |work=Bend Bulletin |location=Oregon |agency=United Press |last=Hanlon |first=William |title=Ten killed when airliner crashes in Montana during blizzard over mountains |date=January 11, 1938 |page=1}}</ref>

Parts of the tail section were torn from the aircraft as it flew over the Bridger Range, in Gallatin County northeast of Bozeman, and the plane went into a dive and crashed. Mamer, co-pilot Fred West, and eight passengers died instantly, and a fire ensued.<ref name=innmlmt/><ref name=bbuptk/> <ref name=bbbdw>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gBZPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ux8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5373%2C298968|work=Bend Bulletin |location=Oregon |agency=United Press |last=Hanlon |first=William |title=Bodies of plane wreck victims brought from Montana mountains |date=January 12, 1938 |page=1}}</ref><ref name=recvwrk>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=qaFfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CzIMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1226%2C760799 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=Idaho |agency=Associated Press |title=Recover bodies from wreck |date=January 12, 1938 |page=2}}</ref> Later, an investigation revealed that the tail structure had failed on the new design from what is known as "natural resonance, or period of vibration". It was the first fatal accident for the Super Electra and Northwest Airlines.

== See also == *Northwest Airlines Flight 2

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==External links== *[http://www.aerofiles.com/sungod.html Aerofiles: The flight of the Spokane Sun-God] *[https://www.historylink.org/File/8899 History Link.org] – essay 8899 *''[https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2018/mar/19/then-and-now-pilot-nick-mamer/ Spokesman-Review]'' – Then and Now: Pilot Nick Mamer *{{Find a Grave|23327049}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mamer, Nick}} Category:1897 births Category:1938 deaths Category:American aviation record holders Category:American aviation pioneers Category:Aviators from Washington (state) Category:Accidental deaths in Montana Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States  Category:20th-century American people Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1938

Nick Mamer

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