What CPU are you running this on and how much RAM? Or make/model computer?
Was this thumb drive booted onto a different system before being brought to the current system that crash dumps the kernel? (* The system that the thumb drive boots on, depending on how you have it set up, it can inherrit hardware profile from prior system that it was run on and crash on a different computer. So after creating it its best that the system that it first boots on is the same system that flash drive is paired with for as long as its to be used as a pair. I have seen problems myself with Linux Mint on a thumb drive where its first boot is on a Core 2 Duo Laptop and then the next boot an AMD Athlon laptop and the laptop for the AMD Athlon crashes at the kernel. Yet if I take this thumb drive and make it new, it boots and runs fine on the AMD system, and then move it to the Core 2 Duo and it crashes there.)
Have you tried a different flash drive to rule out the flash drive as the cause?