Ken Burnstine

[Leo]

Re: Ken Burnstine

The only connection is that Gary Levitz befriended Burnstine and bought Miss Foxy Lady from him as a favor to help him out. And shortly afterwards Levitz sold his race Mustang to the Whittington brothers...who ultimately happened to be from the same part of Florida, in the same business as Burnstine. But it was purely coincidental.

That's exactly what I was looking for. I never knew if there was any business connection other than aircraft. They all just seemed to get into trouble at about the same time.

And I gave up wearing big girl panties years ago...

But they are sooooo comfortable...

Many moons ago Miss Foxy Lady was my first attempt at totally modifying a model kit. Lots of filler, lots of cutting and a canopy off of who knows what it actually came out fairly well. It was the first racer I thought had that "look".
I would contend that there are many warbird and racer owners/drivers out there both past and present, who's business and flying stories (illegal and legal) would make fascinating reading. It's an expensive and relatively dangerous "hobby" which attracts some very interesting characters.

[wyhdah]

Re: Ken Burnstine

dogge, I think your beating yourself up a bit on the Off Topic part. All of this discussion is about a pilot who won at Reno. In my opinion it is spot on topic.

I don't think the discussion was to delete any of this just to move some to another thread wasn't it? My vote is to stay for what that's worth.

[flyingjibus]

Re: Ken Burnstine

leave the thread alone.

No need to complicate things.

[Big_Jim]

Re: Ken Burnstine

I thought that Miss Foxy Lady was sold to John Crocker and became Sumthin Else??

Burnstine sold Foxy Lady to Gary Levitz in late 1975/early 1976. The airplane was kept in the hangar at Chino. I recall there being some discussion of putting Vernon Thorp or Joe Henderson in the airplane and racing it at Reno renamed as "the Hebrew Hornet"--an inside joke between Levitz and Burnstine (check out the insignia on the tail of Foxy Lady and Suzy-Q). But there was some legal issues over ownership of the engine--the ferry Merlin that was used to fly Foxy Lady home from Reno '75 after the race motor blew. I believe it was something between Bill Yoak and Bruce Goessling. Either way, that sort of put the skids to the plan for Levitz to have someone else fly the plane.

Between Mojave and Reno that summer, John Crocker purchased Foxy Lady from Levitz, and it became "Sumthin' Else" which first appeared at Reno '76.

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Ken Burnstine

leave the thread alone.

No need to complicate things.

FWIW, I let my Lenovo "Think" Pad "Update" itself yesterday and to add to my blown off roof (100+MPH winds two days ago) and chasing leaks, the damn thing screwed up MUCH of the computer's functions.. Including my bluetooth mouse.... so anything I have to do takes forever, since I'm not used to using the little flat pad or the "eraser" thing to move my cursor.. That and I've got to work with a bud for a few hours (gotta pay the bills somehow)

.... Long story short.. It's probably OK where it is.. it's so long anyway, whomever gets to the parts that might be objectionable, they will have grown up enough to read it..

Only problem I see is if any of the parties involved have survivors, and they happen to read the details, it might make their day a bit gloomy...

For now....

[Big_Jim]

Re: Ken Burnstine

I love the "North American Armament" sponsorship on the nose.

I think that was the name of the company that Burnstine owned that manufactured and 'exported' weapons.

[Big_Jim]

Re: Ken Burnstine

IPart of the problem is that at least one of those people involved is still alive and more or less a "current" air racer.

I'm wracking my old brain here and--having re-read the thread again--am wondering who you're talking about? I don't believe anyone in the thread that is mentioned is a current racer. Of the names that have been tossed around, most are deceased, and the other is 15 years removed from the game.

Not being critical...just trying to see what I'm missing.

[dvddude]

Re: Ken Burnstine

I'm wracking my old brain here and--having re-read the thread again--am wondering who you're talking about? I don't believe anyone in the thread that is mentioned is a current racer. Of the names that have been tossed around, most are deceased, and the other is 15 years removed from the game.

Not being critical...just trying to see what I'm missing.

I was talking about the Whittingtons. I guess it's been longer than I thought since they were officially "active" in air racing. But, I believe they still go to the races every year.

Disregard what I said.

[pops00]

Re: Ken Burnstine

My dad and I visited the crashsite last week. There's still many many shattered fragments scattered for about 75 yds in a line. Using prefix numbers stamped on pieces, we were able to confirm it's Ken's P-51 as there's no other '51 crashsites in that area.

[split-s]

Re: Ken Burnstine

Besides all of the ones already mentioned, I'll throw out another one - Jr. Burchinal. For those of you old enough to remember, Burchinal had his warbird "check out" school at Paris, Texas in the 70's under the guise of the Flying Tiger Air Museum. Burchinal spent time in prison for a drug related offense. Here is the link to his conviction:

http://www.altlaw.org/v1/cases/474184

I first heard of Ike Burchinal while reading Bud Davisson's article, "My First 100 Planes" in Boys' Life, 1969. "Jr." checked out Bud in the B-25, among other types, there in Paris, do believe.

I've attached a shot of Flying Tigers field as of two years ago. The shot of the gas station is dated 8/12/07. The 4-0-4 seems to have been moved to the south end of the runway.

I wrote the Reverend Burchinal (yes, he was a Baptist minister -- and a reformed alcoholic -- as well) while I was doing research for a social studies fair project on air museums back in high school. He sent me a business card and a copy of Frontier Airlines' in-flight mag with an article on him and his air museum. I think I still have the card in a scrapbook.

Oh, and the above quoted link is defunct.

$

[stuntflyr]

Re: Ken Burnstine

Was Suzy Q repainted before the accident and if so does anyone have pics of it that way?
Chris...

[Big_Jim]

Re: Ken Burnstine

All the research I've done on this says "no". But if it WAS repainted as Tegler says it was...it was in the same paint scheme...just touched up.

[stuntflyr]

Re: Ken Burnstine

Thanks.
Chris...

[mealertravel@gm]

Re: Ken Burnstine

Well I knew Ken very well and just thought I'd give some insite to his tail numbers. As far as " 69 " goes well you know , just think miss foxy lady and susie Q !!! Then there is the famus QF ??? This came from his old days in the military it's a long story but "QF" stands for quick finger .... He was one sexy pilot

[Evie Treen]

Re: Ken Burnstine

My husband and I were flying in to Mojave that day Ken crashed. I heard him say he was going to go and run the pylons, we were taxiing into the the Adfmin building area, so didn't see the crash, but when I got out I looked to the east and saw the smoke and dust. We called the airport on the radio and reported it.
As far as the report, I tried to get it years back and they said they had destoyed it after so many years. I too was curious, having been in the area at the time. Yes, there was a lot of questions, and yes there was an article in a rag type of magazine about him talking to some of the authorities, how true, don't know.