Remembering Clifford Burnham
A funeral I’d like to have seen took place 79 years ago next month. While the aerial display at the cemetery was much different than the barnstorming show that ended a young man’s life, it must have been quite an exhibition.
Clifford Burnham was born in 1898 on the family farm in eastern Montgomery County. While still in high school he enlisted in the Villisca National Guard unit. He saw active duty on the Mexican border, then was sent to Europe when the US entered World War I. Burnham spent 18 months in France, six of which were in a hospital recovering from severe shrapnel injuries.
In France he witnessed aerial combat. Fascinated by planes, he returned to Villisca and teamed with older brother Arlie (known as Barney) to purchase a used aircraft.
The two determined to make flying their career; offering lessons, rides and charter flights. The demand in Montgomery County during the 19-teens and early 20s was not strong, airport facilities scarce, so they relocated to Omaha. Business was good for a time, then came the Depression. Barney was in a position to hang on. Clifford, married and with two small children, was not.
There was money in barnstorming and Clifford, who had survived the war, tested his luck. For a while his good fortune held, and he put on quite a show.
The Monoprep was a high-wing, high speed, lightweight sports car version of the airplane. Built in Ottumwa in the late 1920s, the plane was ideal for aerial acrobatics. Burnham, it was said, was a master. In a series of performances at county fairs and similar events he flew in precision formation, made loops and nose-bleed dives, thrilling thousands of spectators. He didn’t make a lot of money, but enough.
On Sept. 6, 1933, he took his Monoprep to the Adair County Fairgrounds, a featured performer in what was billed as an “amazing aerial circus.” His plane had been modified.
Wings, built to fly with the craft upright, were strengthened with wires and cables. Burham promised a high speed demonstration in an upside down airplane.
He was passing over the grandstand, throttle back on a plane capable of 100 mph, when a wing snapped.
Clifford Burnham was 35 years of age, survived by his widow, Veda Willey Burnham and two children; Betty Joann, age 5, and Robert Lee, 8 months.
Funeral services were held in Omaha, after which the procession traveled to Arlington Cemetery northwest of Villisca. By 3 pm a large crowd, including Burnham’s comrades during the war and dozens of childhood friends from the Grant and Villisca area, were gathered for his burial.
Out of the western sky, flying in formation, appeared 11 airplanes. All were brightly painted, some used for barnstorming. At the controls were pilots who had flown with Burnham.
These monoplanes and biplanes circled Arlington, then one by one landed in the pasture to the east. All taxied to a point near the gravesite, aligned wing-tip to wing-tip.
The pilot of a 12th aircraft, a 1930-era passenger plane with a full cabin, did not risk landing in the farm field. This plane circled overhead throughout military graveside rites.
Subsequent newspaper articles confirm the bonds these pioneer pilots shared. More than a year later, on what would have been Burnham’s 37th birthday, a squadron flew from Omaha, again landing in the cow pasture adjoining Arlington Cemetery. Pilots once again aligned their aircraft, then walked to the grave and placed flowers.
At today’s Eppley Airport, in the upper level walkway between gate areas, is a display of old photographs.
Among them is one Burnham’s air service, and some of the planes they flew.
Roy Marshall is a local historian and columnist for the Red Oak Express. He can be contacted at news@redoakexpress.com.