This day in history: 'Man in the Sky,' well-known Spokane pilot, dies in Montana plane crash. Reardan fire destroys businesses

A “this day in history” recap highlights two earlier aviation and fire events. From 1976, Roy Shreck—known in Spokane for decades of flying and nicknamed “The Man in the Sky”—died in a crash near Silesia, Montana. He was piloting a plane from Cody, Wyoming, to Billings with Donald and Dorothy Loos onboard; their 9-year-old daughter, Angie, survived and remained in stable condition at a Billings hospital after being trapped for 26 hours. Shreck had been a student of Spokane pioneer Nick Mamer and co-owned Mamer-Shreck Air Transport in the 1930s. Another segment recalls a Reardan business district fire that destroyed multiple buildings, and authorities suspected its cause because it was the second blaze in 10 days.