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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. Francis W. Meyer

Lt. Rhinehart was an F-86 fighter pilot who never returned home from the Korean War.
He graduated from Aviation Cadet Pilot Training Class 50E, Williams Air Force Base, AZ. He was assigned to the 1st FIW, 94th FIS (Hat-in-the-Ring Squadron) George, AFB, Victorville, CA flying F-86As. The 1st FIW was one of the many fighter wings of the Air Defense Command.
He was reassigned in July 1951 to Korea as fighter pilot flying F-86s. While on a Fighter Sweep of MIG Alley his engine lost oil resulting in engine failure. He ejected off the west coast of North Korea and was reported as MIA and later to POW followed by being one of the downed F-86 pilots to die in a Russian Gulag (Slave Labor Camp).
1/Lt. Charles W. Rhinehart was from Brooklyn, Iowa. He was married shortly before we left for Korea. I met Mrs. Rhinehart at Camp Stoneman, CA.
In closing, as a veteran of “The Forgotten War” I have never forgotten my friend, Charles Walter ”Peaches” Rhinehart.