Of all the pilots who used Curtiss Field as a base in the early ’20s, few were more skilled — or more colorful — than Bertram Blanchard Acosta. "He could have flown a barn door if it had wings," says Paul Rizzo, a former flight instructor who knew Acosta well. But Acosta, a test pilot for Curtiss, also had a reckless streak that earned him the title, "Bad boy of the air." He delighted in flying under bridges and rolling a wheel over the roofs of Manhattan skyscrapers as he passed overhead, and on more than one occasion his license was suspended for "stunting."

A passenger once casually asked him what time it was. "I don’t know, but I’ll find out," Acosta answered and headed for Manhattan, where he buzzed the clock tower of the Metropolitan Life building. ("That story is absolutely true!" Rizzo claims.) On the ground, Acosta’s love of women and alcohol repeatedly landed him in hot water (SEE Lighter Side), and occasionally in jail. He was divorced twice, the second time, newspapers reported, after his wife discovered love letters from a woman who claimed she was carrying his child.

However, Acosta’s reputation as a pilot didn’t suffer. As a Curtiss test pilot, he won the 1921 Pulitzer race and set a new speed record of 197.8 mph. In April 1927, he and fellow flier Clarence Chamberlin set a joint endurance record of 51h:11m:25s. Then, less than two weeks after Charles Lindbergh’s historic crossing of the Atlantic, Acosta flew from Long Island to France with Commander Richard Byrd.

In 1936, Acosta signed on as anti-Franco mercenary during the Spanish Civil War to organize a six-man "Yankee Squadron." After he returned to the USA, his drinking worsened and, in December 1951, he collapsed in a New York City saloon. He was taken to a hospital, where it was discovered that he had tuberculosis, and three years later died in a Colorado sanitorium at age 59.

Bert Acosta is one of 14 aviation pioneers laid to rest in the Portal of the Folded Wings next to Burbank Airport.