Ruth Reinhold

Ruth Reinhold (; 1902 — December 17, 1985) was an American pilot and flight instructor. One of Arizona's first female pilots, she also worked as a flight instructor and served as a captain in the Civil Air Patrol.

Biography

Reinhold was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1902. Her father was Meldon H. Merrill. She studied fine arts at Boston University and later attended UCLA. Reinhold moved to Arizona in 1933.

Reinhold learned to fly in Sky Harbor, Arizona. Prior to the start of World War II, Reinhold flew charter planes and taught in the Civilian Pilot Training Program. After the start of the war, Reinhold taught instrument flying to B-24 bomber pilots. Reinhold was just below five feet in height, and tower operators would refer to her plane as "pilotless" due to difficulty in seeing her in the plane's cockpit. In 1982, she wrote and published a book on the history of aviation in Arizona entitled Sky Pioneering: Arizona in Aviation History.

Death and legacy

Reinhold died at Phoenix's St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center on December 17, 1985. and is the namesake of Arizona's Ruth Reinhold Award, given to recognize significant contributions to aviation safety. Flight magazine Ninety-Nines called her "the foremost woman pilot in Arizona aviation history".