Milton Rubenfeld

Milton Rubenfeld was born in 1919 in Peekskill

Rubenfeld was born in Peekskill, New York, in 1919. He was the fourth of 6 children of Orthodox Jewish parents who came from Polish Galicia. He was an Eagle Scout.

He studied at New York University and the University of New Mexico, and he taught aerobatics.

In World War II he first flew with the Royal Air Force in England, in 420 Squadron. After the United States entered the war, he joined the U.S. Army as a ferry pilot for the Air Transport Command.

In 1948 he was recruited to fly for Israel and trained on the Avia S-199 in Czechoslovakia. On May 30, 1948, he flew a mission near Tulkarm with Ezer Weizman. His plane was hit, and he bailed out over the sea near Kfar Vitkin, where local farmers at first shot at him.

He returned to the United States for medical care. He married Judy Rosen, had 3 children, and lived in Oneonta, New York, and later in Sarasota, Florida, where the couple owned businesses. He was the father of actor Paul Reubens and died in Sarasota in 2004.