Home > Carnegie Center > Arizona Women's Hall of Fame > Inductees > Reinhold, Ruth
Ruth Reinhold
1902 - 1985
Inducted in 1986
Used by permission from the Arizona Historical Society
There were no other women pilots in Arizona when Ruth Reinhold began flying
in 1933, at least not that she remembered. She built an active career as
a pilot beginning in the early days when “the roads were only paved
out to 16th Street, and the airport was a little ways out of town.”
Although born in Boston, Ruth was living in Los Angeles when she met
her first husband, Louis Chalmers of Phoenix, and moved to that city in
the late 1920s. While living in Los Angeles, a friend’s son was taking
flying lessons and suggested she take a few, which she did. Ruth
continued to take lessons when she moved to Phoenix.
Paul Odneal, operator of Copper Clad Airways, taught her to fly at Sky
Harbor in exchange for running his office. After Odneal’s death in
1936, she worked with Cary Knier, Sky Harbor’s manager, until 1946.
In her early pilot days, Mrs. Reinhold flew charter service, sold airplanes
and was an instructor in the Civilian Pilot Training Program, just prior
to World War II.
Appropriately, Ruth met her second husband, Robert Reinhold, at the Sky
Harbor Airport. Together they operated an airplane sales and service and
charter service in Arizona for a number of years. She never had a flying
accident “worth getting excited about,” she claimed.
Ruth Reinhold did many things in aviation, from barnstorming to teaching
pilots to fly four-engine bombers during World War II, but she probably
was best known for being Barry Goldwater’s pilot for 20 years. Just
before World War II, Barry Goldwater went to Ruth Reinhold for aid in upgrading
his license to commercial. Mrs. Reinhold later taught other members of
his family to fly, so when in 1958, Barry Goldwater and his brother, Bob,
wanted a full-time professional pilot, Ruth was a natural choice.
When Senator Barry Goldwater entered the national political scene, Ruth
Reinhold became his pilot as he campaigned in and out of state. The arrangement
continued long after his election.
In 1969 she was presented the Amelia Earhart Award by the OX-5 Club (pilots
of the World War I planes powered by Curtiss OX-5 engines) for 35 years
of dedication to aviation. She served on the old State Board of Aeronautics
before it became part of the Highway Commission and was the first woman
to have served as a board member.
Ruth Reinhold wrote a history of Arizona aviation entitled Sky Pioneering:
Arizona in Aviation History, published in 1982 by the University
of Arizona Press.
She died in 1985 at the age of 83 after doing a magnificent job for aviation
in the state. As she said, “Women can fly as well as men,” a
statement she proved over and over in her lifetime.
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