ON THE MORNING of April 23, 1936, the city of Portland was proudly preparing to launch its new harbor-patrol and first-aid boat, the Jack Luihn.
It was a big moment for the city. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia of New York City was in town and had been invited to attend. Reporters were on hand, and photographers snapping pictures. And the boat’s inventor was there — it was his moment of triumph. His wife stood ready with a bottle of champagne for the christening.
Oregon inventor Victor Strode’s revolutionary boat, the “aerohydrocraft,” made the cover of Popular Science in March 1933. (Image: PopSci)
The boat itself was a remarkably strange-looking thing. It looked almost as much like an airplane as a boat, like something out of a Buck Rogers comic. Nothing like it had ever plied the waters of Portland Harbor ... or, most likely, ever would again.
THE JACK LUIHNwas the brainchild of a Portland attorney, aviator, promoter, and inventor named Victor Wiegand Strode.
Strode was a fascinating man. Looking over his life, his career is reminiscent of the early life of Howard Hughes — before he became insane, of course. And he really does give Thomas Slate, the Alsea-born inventor of all-metal steam-powered airships, some serious competition for the title of “The Nicola Tesla of Oregon.” For my money, he’s best described as a real-life Tom Swift....
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The Jack Luihn as it appeared when mostly finished and ready to launch, in the fall of 1935. Note the smaller racing hull hanging overhead in the background, showing the aperture for the outboard motor. (Image: vintageportland.wordpress.com)
(Sources: The Inventions of Victor Wiegand Strode, an unpublished biography written circa 1946 by Ruth Hopkins Strode, held by Oregon Historical Society; Popular Science archive, popsci.com/archive; Portland Morning Oregonian archives, 1934-1944)
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