Wilson Atwood "Bill" Burtis was born an "Eagle," a natural flyer with an incredibly inventive mind, and a true visionary. He enlisted in the Navy in 1930 and earned his wings at North Island in San Diego, California. After leaving the Navy in 1933 he was a barn-stormed until 1936. Next he worked at North American Aviation (NAA) in El Segundo, California where he advanced to supervisor of experimental flight (never losing an airplane).

Bill had the reputation of being able to fix anything and in 1942 he was re-assigned as the senior technical representative for NAA in England. His proudest feat was the supervision of the first Rolls-Royce-Merlin Engine installation conversion in the P-51 Mustang at the Royal Air Force Base, Hucknall.

After the war ended in 1945, Bill continued employment with NAA until 1949, including two years of cold-weather testing of the P-51 & P-82 at Fairbanks, Alaska. From 1949 to 1955 he served as chief engineer at Sprague Engineering and as design and development producibility engineer at AiResearch.

From 1957-1999 Bill was self-employed as a proprietary design engineer and consultant in Southern California; during this period he designed and patented over 30 aerospace and automotive applications, ranging from a no-leak seal to a high torque DC electric motor with simultaneous battery charging system.

True to his love of the airplane, he was a founding member of the American Air Museum In Britain.

When the "Eagle" joined his creator in 1999, he left his last design (a solar powered space machine) on the drafting board, unfinished. Retirement was never in Bill's vocabulary; he continued to dream and design until his demise.