Nicholas Bernard Mamer, known as "Nick," was a famous aviation pioneer in
Spokane, Washington, from the years, 1927 to 1932. Before that, he was a
lieutenant in World War I and later, fought forest fires from the air. He
then went on to head his own flying school, Mamer Flying Service, where he
trained a number of pilots. Eventually, he created his own airline,
Mamer Air Transport.
Nick was born in Hastings, Minnesota, and came to Spokane in 1920. An
account of his service in World War I is referenced in Schulze's feature
article in the Pictorial section of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
January 26, 1964 titled, "The Saga of the Sun God."
Nick's fame began in 1927, however, when he entered and won third place in
the Class A division from New York to Spokane at the National Air Races
sponsored by the city of Spokane.
On August 15, 1929, Nick won even greater fame, as he and copilot Art
Walker, flew a transcontinental endurance flight with air refueling, from
Spokane to San Francisco to New York and back to Spokane. The flight
lasted five days and nights, and the Buhl Sesquiplane propelled by a
300-HP Wright engine, returned safely to Spokane Felts Field on August 20,
1929.
In the 1934, Northwest Airways changed its name to Northwest Airlines and
took over the route that Nick Mamer had claimed for Mamer Air Transport.
It was also in 1934 that Nick went to work as a pilot for Northwest,
giving up Mamer Air Transport as it was turned down for a government mail
contract. He moved to Seattle, but kept his Mamer Flying School open in
Spokane, where Roy Schreck learned to fly, eventually opening up his own
airline with the Mamer name--Mamer-Schreck Air Transport.
Nick met with tragedy on January 10, 1938, when he was flying a Northwest
Airlines Lockheed 14-H Zephyr near Bozeman, Montana, and the airplane
crashed, due to a faulty rudder.
Another Sky Zephyr
like Nick's crashed five months later. The CAA (now FAA) government
was trying hard to pin the blame on Nick and/or NWA (Northwest
Airlines) in that they did not even TEST before or after another one bit
the dust in California. The Lockheed 14-H Zephyr's condition was much
worse on delivery to NWA in May!
Nick is buried in Seattle in the veterans section of Evergreen-Washelli.
He died just eighteen days short of his fortieth birthday. More than
anyone else of that era, Nick Mamer's contribution to Pacific Northwest
aviation was the greatest.
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contributing information and permission to publish their photos and text.
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