Burnham, Walter E., (Walter Elwood), 1897-1976.

Walter Elwood Burnham was born in Knobnoster, Missouri on September 24, 1897. He attended public schools in Horton and Wichita, Kansas. He served in the armed forces and then worked at a manufacturing company which made airplane parts. Burnham next worked at the Travel Air Company in Wichita from 1926-1931. After completing an aeronautical engineering degree at Tri-State University, Burnham joined the faculty at Tri-State.

In 1937 Burnham founded the Freedman-Burnham Engineering Corporation of Cincinnati, Ohio with Gordon L. Freedman. The company soon became well known in the aviation industry for production of quality propellors for the light plane industry. Burnham remained at the company until 1944 when he returned to Wichita to work for Beech Aircraft. Burnham next worked at Boeing until his retirement in 1965.

Throughout his career Burnham consulted for numerous companies related to the aviation industry. His most memorable contribution to the aviation industry was his design, in collaboration with Herb Rawdon, of the Travel Air Model R, known as the "Mystery Ship". At Cleveland in 1929 this plane easily outdistanced all other entries in the National Air Races, and helped bring about fundamental changes in aircraft design. Walter Burnham died on February 7, 1976.

From the description of The papers of Walter E. Burnham. 1929-1975. (Wichita State University). WorldCat record id: 22232897