Nick Mamer

Who was Nick Mamer?

Nicholas B. “Nick” Mamer was a noted aviation pioneer and pilot in the Pacific Northwest during the 1920s and 1930s.

Mamer served with the United States Army Air Service during World War I, and later settled in Spokane, Washington, establishing the Mamer Flying Service and Mamer Air Transport firms. Mamer was a flight instructor and charter pilot, and was involved in early forest fire patrol flights for the United States Forest Service. Among his flight pupils was Bob Johnson, a well-known aviation pioneer in Missoula, Montana.

Mamer is perhaps best remembered for undertaking a pioneering long-distance endurance flight that began on August 15, 1929. 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. Beginning in Spokane, Mamer and Walker flew to San Francisco, on 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. Mamer and Walker did not sleep during those five days aloft. They set a number of records, one of which was a world's record non-stop flight of 7,200 miles.