Milo G. Burcham was born in Indiana in 1903. In 1919, his father moved the family to the Quaker town of Whittier, California, and worked as a citrus rancher. In 1933, Burcham competed in setting inverted flight endurance records. His flight of 4 h 5 min 22 s that December was not broken until July 24, 1991. In 1941, Burcham joined Lockheed as a production test pilot and spent a year as chief pilot of Lockheed's operations in England. On October 20, 1944 Burcham was killed in the flame-out on take-off of the engine of third production prototype YP-80 from Lockheed Air Terminal in Burbank, California. Burcham's cousin's daughter, Monica Dean, wrote a book about Burcham, and delivered a presentation on his life.
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