Margaret Bartholomew

Margaret Bartholomew (October 8, 1903 – October 18, 1943) was the first, and only female, Civil Air Patrol member to die in service during World War II.

Biography Lieutenant Margaret Bartholomew was the 154th charter member of the Ohio Wing of Civil Air Patrol, as well as being the Flight Leader of Flight C from Squadron 5111-1. Squadron 5111-1 was the original Cincinnati Squadron, and was based at Lunken Airport. Flight C was an all-female flight, and was composed of 50 pilots.

Bartholomew was returning to Cincinnati on October 18, 1943, from a courier mission out of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, when a sudden snowstorm plunged visibility to zero. She flew lower as she tried to find a safe place to land, but visibility was so poor that she crashed into a hill 55 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, approximately in Indiana, Pennsylvania.

Burial Bartholomew is buried at Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio in Section 124, Lot 170.