Barbara Allen Rainey

Barbara Ann Allen (Rainey)
Rainey as a Lt. Junior Grade
Born	(1948-08-20)August 20, 1948 Bethesda, Maryland
Died	July 13, 1982(1982-07-13) (aged 33) Evergreen, Alabama
Place of burial	Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Navy
Rank	Lieutenant Commander

Barbara Ann Allen Rainey (August 20, 1948 - July 13, 1982) was the first female pilot in the U. S. armed forces. Rainey received her wings of gold as the first female to be designated a naval aviator in February 1974 and became the first Navy woman to qualify as a jet pilot. She attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy. She was killed in an aircraft crash in 1982 while performing her duties as a flight instructor.

Allen was born at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland and was the daughter of a career Naval Officer. She graduated from Lakewood High School in California, where she was an outstanding athlete and a member of the National Honor Society. Consistently on the dean's list at Long Beach City College, California, she later transferred to and graduated from Whittier College in California where she became a member of the Thalian Society. She was commissioned in the United States Navy Reserve in ceremonies at U.S Navy Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island in December 1970, and was assigned to the Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Virginia. She later served on the staff of the Supreme Allied Command, Atlantic in Norfolk, Virginia.

In early 1973, the Secretary of the Navy John W. Warner announced a test program to train female Naval Aviators. Seeking a greater challenge and wanting to follow in the footsteps of her U.S. Marine Corps aviator brother, Bill, Allen applied to the program and was accepted into the U.S. Naval Flight Training School.