Three Arizona aviation pioneers were inducted into the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame at its 20th Annual Induction Ceremony on March 28 at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson.
The new members are Kenneth H. Dahlberg, Ruby Wine Sheldon and Maj. Gen. Carl G. Schneider, who were recognized for their Arizona-related contributions to the field of aviation and aerospace.
Kenneth H. Dahlberg is a World War II fighter pilot who flew P-47s and P-51s and is credited with more than 15 kills. He earned his wings at Luke Army Air Field in Phoenix in 1942, then moved to Yuma Army Air Field, where he served as an instructor to pilots from the Chinese Air Force. Dahlberg, who currently lives in Minneapolis, earned two Purple Hearts, the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross with cluster, the Bronze Star and 15 air medals. After the war he founded Dahlberg Electronics, where he became well known as the inventor of the Miracle Ear hearing aid.
Ruby Wine Sheldon, a resident of Phoenix on and off since 1949, learned to fly when she was 32 years old. She went to work in 1966 for Sun Valley Air Service at Sky Harbor Airport, Phoenix, as an instructor and charter pilot. Her aviation career expanded greatly in 1969 when she joined the U.S. Geologic Survey Water Resources Division, where her duties included flying camera and radar equipped aircraft, performing surveys from Florida to Alaska. She flew aircraft ranging from Cessna 180s to a Douglas B-23 and a DC-3. Her flight time included many hours flying UH-1 helicopters from a floating ice research station 400 miles off the Northern coast of Alaska, as well as flying former military aircraft such as the OV-1 Mohawk and T-33 Shooting Star. In 1974, she became the first woman in the United States to be rated as a Certified Instrument Flight Instructor in helicopters. Since her retirement from the U.S.G.S, she has remained active in aviation, participating regularly in the Powder Puff Derby and the Women’s Air Race Classic trans-continental races. She has won the race twice, in 1989 and 1995, and she placed in the top three a total of seven times. She has logged more than 15,000 flight hours.
Maj. Gen. Carl G. Schneider, a resident of Scottsdale, graduated from P-51 pilot training at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona in 1948. He flew more than 100 combat missions in Korea before returning to Arizona in 1951 for the first of several tours at Luke Air Force Base. In 1964 he went to Vietnam as one of the first U.S. Air Force officers assigned to the Second Air Division. He helped to establish a forward air control/air liaison officer program working and flying with the Republic of Vietnam Air Force. He served as executive officer to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for financial management, and commanded the 3550th Pilot Training Wing and the 314th Air Division in Korea. Gen. Schneider retired from the Air Force in 1978 as the Chief of Staff for the Air Force Logistics Command.
