If you're returning home on Alaska Airlines, right as you head for baggage claim, there is a plaque on the wall that I never noticed before and bet you didn't either. It reads:
SPOKANE SUN-GOD
Artwork by Tom Quinn, Spokane
Given no more than a second thought today, non-stop air service was once viewed as nothing more than a dream until two Spokane natives, a donated plane and a nation enamored with flight changed the course of history.
On August 15, 1929, the Spokane Sun-God, a 1929 Buh CA-6 sesquiplane, lifted off from Spokane's Felts Field beginning a journey that would stand as the first ever non-stop transcontinental round-trip flight.
From takeoff to touchdown the Sun-God covered 10,000 air miles and set a world distance record for a non-stop flight of 7,200 point-to-point miles in just five days.
From Spokane to San Francisco to New York and back to Spokane, pilots Nick Mamer and Art Walker battled lack of sleep, forest fire smoke, harrowing mid-air refueling, non-existent radio communication and equipment failure. The challenges merely served to spark the determination that would give wings to their journey.
On August 20, 1929, more than 10,000 spectators packed Felts Field to watch the Spokane Sun-God safely end its remarkable sojourn more than 120 hours after it began. Considered pioneers by many for their efforts, Mamer's and Walker's trip aboard the Spokane Sun-God set a precedent that helped shape the future of air travel.
An art project of Spokane International Airport
and the City of Spokane Arts Commission.
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