Dates

• Existence: 1885 - 1924

Biography

Gustav W. Stromer was born July 12, 1885 in Kropp, Sweden as Gustav Waldemar Strömer. He emigrated to the United States in 1900. In the 1910s he was involved in experimental aircraft, especially hydroareoplanes.

He began building airplanes in Washington around 1912 and by 1914 he had a workshop on Day Island, at the south end of the Tacoma Narrows. He barnstormed and took passengers on sightseeing flights. In early January 1915 Stromer met the actress Jane O'Roark. On January 13, 1915 he took her on a flight making her the first woman to see Tacoma from the air in a well-publicized event. The following month, on February 20th, they went on an airmail flight together from Tacoma to Seattle, making the first airmail delivery between those two cities.

Around 1917 he moved to Portland, Oregon and had a workshop along the Willamette River. He and his flying partner T. H. Lipps were hoping to make the first coast-to-coast flight by a seaplane, though that never came to be. City directories for Portland in the early 1920s list his profession as cabinetmaker. He died on November 19, 1924 in Portland, Oregon at the age of 39.

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records: