Burcham was born in Cadiz, Indiana, and grew up in Whittier, California in the eastern Los Angeles basin. Burcham sold 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 Lockheed as a production test pilot and spent a year as chief pilot of Lockheed's operations in England. He became chief engineering test pilot a few years later, and in that capacity was served as copilot on the first flight of the Constellation on January 8, 1943. On January 9, 1944, he turned the first flight of Lulu-Belle, the XP-80 prototype, into a thrilling low-level airshow before a crowd of military and civilian VIPs at 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]
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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.
January 01, 1970
milo, burcham, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, january, 202. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Milo Burcham news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2021 Learn how and when to remove this message Milo Garrett Burcham May 24 1903 October 20 1944 was an American aviator He worked as a stunt pilot airshow pilot and test pilot Clarence Kelly Johnson right congratulates Milo Burcham on the successful first flight of the XP 80 Shooting Star Burcham was born in Cadiz Indiana and grew up in Whittier California in the eastern Los Angeles basin Burcham sold 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 Lockheed as a production test pilot and spent a year as chief pilot of Lockheed s operations in England He became chief engineering test pilot a few years later and in that capacity was served as copilot on the first flight of the Constellation on January 8 1943 On January 9 1944 he turned the first flight of Lulu Belle the XP 80 prototype into a thrilling low level airshow before a crowd of military and civilian VIPs at 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 edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Milo Burcham 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 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Milo Burcham amp oldid 1204678796, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
