This team is not to be confused with the
Spokane Flyers that played in Canadian Senior Amateur Hockey and won the
Allan Cup championships in 1976 and 1980. The Spokane Flyers entered the WHL on May 15, 1980 when Bob Cooper, owner of the dormant
Great Falls Americans franchise, resurrected his team and relocated it to Spokane for the
1980–81 WHL season. Like the Americans, the Flyers would quickly cease operations, as the franchise folded on December 2, 1981 just 26 games into its second season. It was widely believed that the failure of the Flyers was due to poor management. Spokane would have a second chance in the WHL when the relocated
Kelowna Wings renamed themselves the
Spokane Chiefs. The Flyers franchise first joined the then-named Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) in
1967 as the
Flin Flon Bombers. The franchise had a great deal of stability in
Flin Flon, Manitoba and lasted eleven seasons in the community before the WHL outgrew it. The Bombers relocated to
Edmonton, Alberta for one season in
1978 before being sold and relocating again to
Great Falls, Montana. The
Great Falls Americans failed to last even one season, as they ceased operations in December, having played 28 of a scheduled 72 games of the
1979–80 WHL season. Cooper resurrected them again in Spokane for the start of the 1980–81 season, though they would fold again in December of the following
1981–82 WHL season. The Flyers were posthumously involved in one of the most bizarre trades in hockey history. After ceasing operations, the Flyers team bus was sold to the
Victoria Cougars. The Cougars owners were not willing to pay the duties and taxes required to bring the vehicle into
Canada, so on December 19, 1983, the Cougars traded the bus to the
Seattle Breakers for holdout
Tom Martin. ==Season-by-season Record==