His mother, Aloysia Evans, moved Tony and his older sister Nancy to southern California for the warmer climate.

In 1938 he flew, for the first time, a Keith Rider racer dubbed The Firecracker, owned by air racing enthusiast Bill Schoenfeldt.

After the 1939 races, LeVier got his first formal job, working as a mechanic for the Douglas Aircraft Company, hoping to get promoted to test pilot.

Six months later, though, he left that job also, to work with General Motors testing engines for Cessna aircraft in Wichita.

LeVier started at Lockheed ferrying Hudson bombers to Canada for delivery to the Royal Air Force.

To demonstrate the reliability of the design in the hands of a skilled pilot, he performed aerobatic shows for students at the Polaris Flight school at War Eagle Field in nearby Lancaster.

In October 1944, Milo Burcham was killed in the crash of a production P-80, and Tony LeVier filled his office as chief engineering test pilot in January 1945.

Just two months into his career as head of this department, he suffered a serious crash on March 20, 1945, when his P-80 lost its tail due to a faulty turbine blade.