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and building of airports. In January, Acosta announced the establishment of the Acosta Aircraft Company, New York, using the former Mercer automobile factory at Trenton, New Jersey. That spring he conducted wind tunnel tests on models of his projected plane at New York University, but apparently nothing came of this project. During this period he remained an aviation consultant for several companies and on occasion did some instructing.
     In January, 1937, Acosta and G.K. Berry were served with a federal grand jury subpoena upon their return to the United States from Spain. They had been flying for the Spanish Government during a civil war. 
     Evidently Acosta remained in the New York area, and in 1952 he was found collapsed on the street in the advanced stages of failing health. He was removed to a Jewish Consumptive Relief Sanitorium in Denver, Colorado, where he dies of cancer on September 1, 1954, at age 59. Following cremation, his ashes were interred in the Portal of Folded Wings, Valhalla Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California, where other aviation notables are buried.
     Flying Pioneer Bertrum B. Acosta was indeed one of the most colorful of early aviators. He started at the very beginning, and by determination and hard work became one of the nation's leading consulting test pilots. He also taught countless persons to fly and served his country well in World War I. His is a record that deserves a high place in American aviation history.