Aviation History: Spokane Sun-God

Over Bellefonte Mamer dropped a note asking for weather conditions between Bellefonte and Cleveland. He asked the airfield to flash it's lights once for good weather, twice if questionable and three times if bad. The lights flashed three times. A short time later a storm hit. The Sun-God flew over Bellefonte for 30 minutes until the storm turned so fierce Mamer and Walker decided to head west. They fought squall after squall. Twice they feared the Buhl plane would breakdown due to the violent storm. But after an hour they pulled out of the storm and headed into Cleveland. The Sun-God refueled over Cleveland again by the Robbins brothers then flew to St. Paul. The only problem in St. Paul was the refueling plane, which refueled the Sun-God over Cheyenne and North Platte, piloted by Bookwalter, broke a brake cable when it landed after the first refueling took place. It was repaired, refueling finished and the Sun-God flew on to Aberdeen with Bookwalter following. Bookwalter and O'Connell refueled the Sun-God again without complications over Aberdeen.

The flight from Aberdeen to Miles City turned ugly. Smoke from forest fires nearly blinded Mamer and Walker. Then one of the magnetos on the Wright motor quit working. Mamer dropped a note over Miles City saying he and Walker were about to give up and asked the airfield be lit up so he could see to land. Then the note asked if anyone could figure out a way to refuel the Sun-God in flight. The people on the ground decided they could come up with something. They broke into groups to take on different tasks. One group went to the creamery and got five-gallon cream cans. Another group made detachable rope slings. Wives and others prepared food for everyone including Mamer and Walker. Everything was ready to go at 3:30 am on August 20. At daybreak Frank Wiley flew up with Tommy Matthews tied in the cockpit in a telephone lineman's belt and met the Sun-God. She didn't look good. The once new shiny red Sun-God had a rag shoved in a hole in the windshield and streaks of oil over her. But Matthews went to work. He hung half out of the cockpit and lowered cream cans down one at a time. He set them on the fuselage behind the hole on top of the Sun-God. Walker disconnected the cans and lower them in. After a can was disconnected, Matthews pulled the rope up and lowered another can down. Mamer then flew over Yellowstone River and Walker tossed the empty cans out so they would land in the river. A boy in a rowboat waited at the bridge in Miles City to fetch the cans out of the river to return them to the refueling crew. Wiley and Matthews took up 120 gallons of Standard Oil gasoline in three trips when Mamer signal it was enough. Mamer had also asked, in one of his notes dropped, that Wilson and Cappula, waiting at Missoula, fly to Belgrade to await the Sun-God's arrival there. The Sun-God flew on to Belgrade and, although the smoke was still thick, the refueling went off without any problems. Then Mamer and Walker flew on to Missoula. Just west of Missoula, still in thick smoke, the Sun-God was refueled, taking on 50 gallons of gas and some oil. This would get them into Spokane. So the Sun-God flew west out of Montana over Mullan Pass in northern Idaho and arrived at Spokane at 2:00 pm. on August 20, 1929.

Ten thousand people turned out to see the Sun-God come home. Admission and parking fees were taken for the event to help pay for the trip. They were 25¢ for adults, 25¢ for parking and children got in free.

Over Felts Field Mamer dropped a note mark "confidential" addressed to Vic Dessert, the Chairman of the National Air Derby committee. In the note Mamer told Dessert one of the magnetos and the special oiling system for the rocker arms on three of the cylinders had quit. (This is probably what caused the streaks of oil noticed over Mills City.) Mamer also stated it was impossible for them to make another transcontinental trip but they could fly to the coast and back or anyplace that wouldn't require them to fly over rough terrain after dark. The Air Derby committee met and sent a note to Mamer with a refueling plane ordering Mamer to continue circling Felts Field until 6:00 pm. Then they were to land. Clean clothes, wash water and food was sent up so Mamer and Walker could prepare for the hero's welcome that awaited them when they landed. During the four-hour delay, planes filled with sightseers flew up to watch the Sun-God. Mamer had complain that he couldn't even change his clothes without people watching.

The Sun-God landed at 6:01. She had been in the air for 120 hours, one minute and 40 seconds, flown 10,000 air miles and a world's distance record for a non-stop flight of 7,200 lineal miles. Other firsts were: first transcontinental refueling flight, first night refueling and first refueling at an altitude of 8,000 feet. President Hoover sent Mamer and Walker a telegraph. It read: "Congratulations on the successful completion of your nonstop, refueling flight across the continent and return. This is a further demonstration of the ever-widening scope and practical utility of aircraft."

The Buhl plane was taken back to the factory, the Wright engine removed and sent to the Wright factory to be analyzed. The Buhl company then examined the plane. The Sun-God later flew in the 1931 Ford Tour piloted by Jack Story who told the story of the Sun-God's flight at every landing. It is not know what happened to the Spokane Sun-God after that. Papers from the Buhl company shows it was sold oversees shortly after the transcontinental flight. How it ended up back in the United States for the 1931 Ford Tour is unknown. It is known that many Buhl planes sold oversees were used by smugglers because of the plane's agility and many were confiscated by the United States Customs. However, it does not appear the Sun-God was among these planes. One man claimed, in the late 90s, to have seen the Sun-God hanging in a barn in California.