Nellie Zabel Willhite Explained
| Nellie Zabel Willhite |
| Birth Name: | Eloise or Eleanor |
| Birth Date: | 22 November 1892 |
| Birth Place: | Rapid City or Box Elder, South Dakota |
| Death Date: | September 2, 1991 (age 98) |
| Death Place: | Sioux Falls |
| Nationality: | American |
| Years Active: | 1928–1944 |
| Known For: | Pilot |
Eloise[1] or Eleanor[2] "Nellie" Zabel Willhite (22 November 1892 – 2 September 1991[3]) was the first deaf woman to earn a pilot's license,[4] as well as South Dakota's first female pilot.[5]
Life
Willhite was born in Rapid City or Box Elder, South Dakota[6] to Charley "Pard" Zabel and Lillian Madison Zabel.[7] Willhite became deaf at age two due to measles.[8] There have been sources that claim she was deafened at age four instead of two. She attended South Dakota School for the Deaf and worked as a typist in Pierre, South Dakota until she enrolled in an aviation school. Willhite started flying lessons in November 1927, with her dad paying for it.[9] She earned her pilot's license in 1928[10] Willhite was the thirteenth to sign up in a class of eighteen and made her first solo flight on 13 January 1928 after getting thirteen hours of instruction. She was the first female pilot to earn a pilot's license in South Dakota.
Willhite was a founding member of the Ninety-Nines, an organization which was founded in 1929 with 99 female pilots as founding members, and is dedicated to the advancement of aviation and support for women in aviation.[11] Willhite started the first South Dakota chapter of the Ninety-Nines in 1941.[12] She worked as a commercial pilot until 1944 (the first deaf person to do so), carrying airmail.[5] She also worked as a barnstormer, specializing in flour bombing and balloon racing.[13]
Willhite was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 1978[14] and South Dakota Aviation Hall of Fame shortly before her death in 1991, and her plane the Pard is now on display at the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham, Alabama.[5]
External links
Notes and References
- South Dakota Certificate of Birth #422572
- Book: Moore . Matthew . Panara . Robert . Great deaf Americans: the second edition . 1996 . Deaf Life Press . 0-9634016-6-1 . 163–164 . 2nd . registration .
- Smith. Clayton F.. 4 May 1993. Dakota Images: Nellie Zabel Willhite. South Dakota History. 23 . 2. 180–181. ISSN 0361-8676. Retrieved 12 July 2017
- Gannon, Jack. 1981. Deaf Heritage–A Narrative History of Deaf America, Silver Spring, MD: National Association of the Deaf, pp. 194–195 (PDF)(PDF)
- http://www.deafpeople.com/history/history_info/willhite.html Nellie Zabel Willhite
- Book: Thomas D. Griffith. Dustin D. Floyd. Insiders' Guide to South Dakota's Black Hills and Badlands. 2006. Globe Pequot. 978-0-7627-4192-2. 20.
- Web site: The Ninety-Nines, Inc, International Organization of Women Pilots . www.facebook.com . en.
- https://books.google.com/books?id=CgXwEAIskCkC&dq=%22+zabel+willhite%22+%22born%22&pg=PA20 Insiders' Guide to South Dakota's ... – Thomas D. Griffith, Dustin D. Floy
- Web site: Weinstein . Dorene . A Pioneer of Flight . May–June 1989 . South Dakota Magazine . www.southdakotamagazine.com.
- https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:YqTE7xYMOGoJ:www.journeymuseum.org/newsletter/r30IF.pdf+%22zabel+willhite%22+%22license%22+%221928&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESh44UMKx-p8Z1Sv2ezGONKT_AKSxxIWXjZ4CgjYfDQuG8TI8psgXgyTUPFnZJwTyvQ9Ab_5Db-fIqyE5NbWl4VCGs4Q8lC0xJCm1LOLD8lww_j9FcXX8aFRWPO9gysiYFGBhC0C&sig=AHIEtbTPUPGrrNqXJOnw--DGDGB297dhjg Powered by Google Docs
- https://books.google.com/books?id=bzM_SJosVa4C&dq=ninety-nines+%22founded%22&pg=PA13 Amelia Earhar
- https://books.google.com/books?id=mF1c6mYPBdcC&dq=ninety-nines+%22zabel+willhite%22&pg=PA114 South Dakota's First Century of Flight – Norma J. Kraeme
- http://womenaviators.org/GladysRoy.html Gladys Roy
- Web site: Pitlick . Wendy . An Extraordinary woman . 17 September 2008 . Black Hills Pioneer . 22 March 2019 . en.
