Born on December 31, 1923, in Losa Angeles, California, Ruth Guhse developed the desire to fly since she lived near Clover Field in Santa Monica and Mines Field, which is now LAX.  Part of the desire, no doubt, was publicly due to Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh.

She learned to fly in a Meyers OTW, 125 hp and did a cross country to Waco, TX., so as to familiarize herself with an open cockpit.  A group of women working at North American Aviation drove out to Baker, California, after work on Friday and returned Sunday night.  “We were unable to fly on the coast,” she says.

After all the tests and the physical, I was assigned to 44-10, the “Lost, Last Class of Avenger Field.”  They received primary and PT-17’s, then transitioned into AT-6’s back to the BT-13 for instruments, and AT-6 for advanced and cross country.  She was assigned Aloe Army Air Field in Victoria, Texas, for tow-target duty.  Since they had such a short time on the base, they spent all of it processing them in and then out and they didn’t get near an airplane, though they were quite familiar with the AT-6.

After deactivation, they heard Pan-Am were hiring women as stewardesses.  Soon she was flying across the Pacific.  Her first stop was Hawaii, a long flight in a DC-4.  She then went on to Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Midway, Wake, Guam, Manila, Bangcock, Calcutta, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Okinawa, etc.  She made some great trips because she was dating a crew scheduler, Jack Wright.  She married Jack and they took over a flight school in West Sacramento-Capital Sky Park, with Tri-Pacers and a Cessna 195.  Her husband was diagnosed with cancer and unable to teach.  After recovering from surgery, he went into crop dusting and continued off and on until he passed away in 1961.

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