Milo Garrett Burcham
24 MAY 1903 – 20 OCT 1944
Milo Burcham joined Lockheed in either 1937 or 1941 (depending on which bio you believe) as a production test pilot.
Due to his vast experience as in engineering flight testing, Burcham did most of the test flying on the P-38. In his short life he flew more P-38 test flights than any other pilot at the time.
Burcham became Chief Engineering Test Pilot for Lockheed, and performed a 55-degree dive from 35,000 feet in the P-38.
Burcham at the counter of the Portland Army Air Base operations building in September of 1944.
“We’re not going to teach you how to fly. You’ve all had good training in other ships. We’re simply going to show you how we handle a 38.”
– Milo Burcham
Burcham, flying a P-38 with incredible ease and skill, put his ship through some of the most difficult maneuvers in flying in a flight over PAAB. Besides being tremendously exciting, his flight proved to be an invaluable source of inspiration to the pilot trainees of the 432nd Army Air Force Base Unit who would soon be flying P-38’s exclusively.
Above, Milo Burcham on the wing of “Yippee” – the 5,000th P-38 produced.
Sadly, this great test pilot died at the young age of 41 when a prototype plane (YP-80) he was testing flamed out on take-off.
P-38 Flight Characteristics, 1943 DVD
The “Flight Characteristics” P-38 DVD contains Milo Burcham walking P-38 pilots through the flight training for the Lightning. It will give you new respect for these young men who had to learn how to fly this “ship” (as Burcham calls it).
Experience the American Journey through our country’s visual heritage in this historical recording provided by the National Archives of the United States. Shows normal and emergency operating characteristics of the P-38. Demonstrates precautions and techniques for taking off, flying, and landing, showing in detail how controls and apparatus should be manipulated. Explains how to take off and fly with only one engine, and shows how to bail out. From the Army Air Forces collection. This historical recording from the National Archives may contain variations in audio and video quality based on the limitations of the original source material. The content summary for this DVD is adapted from an historical description provided by the government agency or donor at the time of production release.
