Dates

• Existence: 1917 June 22 - 2012 September 19

Biographical Note: Alice S. Fuchs

Alice S. Fuchs was an educator, pilot, author of aviation books and manuals, as well as one of the first female FAA-designated flight instructors.

Alice S. Fuchs was born on June 22, 1917, in Poultney, Vermont. She attended Wilson College on a full four-year scholarship, graduating in 1938. She then attended Penn State University and received an M.A. in English. In 1946, she entered The University of Michigan, where she did further graduate work toward a Ph.D. program. Alice began her career in 1940, as an instructor and Assistant Dean of Women at Hillyer Junior College in Hartford, Connecticut, teaching math and English.

In 1939, while Fuchs was a student at Penn State, she began flying lessons with Sherm Lutz at the State College, Pennsylvania airport. It was at this time, she met William R. Fuchs, a pilot for the United States Air Force, who would become her husband. They married on June 29, 1942. As a wedding present her husband bought her a Piper J-3 Cub.

By 1945, Fuchs had earned her instructor's and instrument ratings. Her first flight student was an Army chaplain, the first of many students she taught to fly. She served as chief flight instructor for several certified flight schools and instructed extensively on landplanes, seaplanes, gliders, and multiengine aircraft. Fuchs was the first woman to teach cadets at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, giving them flight instruction in gliders. She was also one of the first female FAA-designated flight examiners, giving flight tests for central Pennsylvania. Fuchs flew commercially in many parts of the United States and in Canada, as well in two national air races. In her later years, along with her husband, she ran the flight service business Eagle Aviation at the Lock Haven, Pennsylvania airport.

In addition to work as an aviator and pilot instructor, Fuchs began writing for many aviation magazines, and authored a book, Multiengine Flying, 1969. She also undertook many aviation writings for Jeppesen and Company, Felsenthal Instruments Company, and was the editor of the American Soaring Handbook.

Alice S. Fuchs passed away on September 19, 2012, and is buried at the United States Air Force Academy Cemetery in Colorado Springs.

Biographical note derived from donor information, records on Ancestry.com., and AvSport of Lock Haven

Citation: “Remebering Alice Fuchs”. https://avsport.org/memoriam/fuchs_alice.htm

Occupations

• Air pilots
• Authors

Places

• Pennsylvania (Residence)

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