Milo Burcham
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XP-80 Shooting Star
.Milo Garrett Burcham (May 24, 1903 – October 20, 1944) was an American
aviator. He worked as a stunt pilot, airshow pilot, and test pilot
.
Burcham was born in
burglar alarms of his own design to finance flying lessons from the O'Donnell School of Aviation in Long Beach, California, where he became chief instructor. In 1933, Burcham and Lt. Tito Falconi of the Italian Air Service competed in setting inverted flight endurance records. Burcham's flight of 4 h 5 min 22 s flying in circles over Long Beach, California that December was not broken until July 24, 1991 when U.S. airshow pilot Joann Osterud set a new world's record of 4 h 38 min 10 s. In 1936, Burcham flew his Boeing 100 to the World's Aerobatic Championship
at the National Air Races in Los Angeles.
In 1941, Burcham joined
Muroc Army Air Base
(now Edwards AFB).
On October 20, 1944 Burcham was flying the third production prototype YP-80 from
Lockheed Air Terminal in Burbank, California. The engine flamed-out on takeoff due to a main fuel pump failure and the airplane crashed one mile west of the terminal, killing him.[1]
He is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.
References
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- ^ Associated Press, “Lockheed’s Chief Test Pilot Killed in Crash”, The San Bernardino Daily Sun, San Bernardino, California, Saturday 21 October 1944, Volume 51, page 1.