My father, Russell T Gerow, hangared next door to O'Donnell's, flying school, where he and Milo Burcham became good friends. When Milo flat-spun his Bird BK [NC48K] into a Santa Ana bean field in 1932, my dad, who was an A&E, completely rebuilt the plane in exchange for room and board at Milo's house.

Later, Dad moved on and was working at Douglas in Kansas City when Milo passed through with his new Boeing 100 in Sept 1933. He had just bought it from P&W and was flying it back from Hartford to Southern California. Dad at that time suggested that he invert the engine on its mounts for his upside-down work, which he apparently did. His 1933 upside-down flight record of 4h:5m:22s flown in the Boeing stood until a couple of years ago, when it was finally broken by Joann Osterud.

Milo was killed after flaming out on takeoff from Lockheed Air Terminal in a P-80. He crashed into a North Hollywood gravel pit, hitting the side of the pit just a couple of feet below the rim. He was buried in Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale, not far from where he crashed. I briefly knew his widow, Peggy, who is now buried next to him.