Nellie Zabel Willhite

Who was Nellie Zabel Willhite?

Eleanor "Nellie" Zabel Willhite was the first deaf woman to earn a pilot’s license, as well as South Dakota’s first female pilot. Willhite became deaf at age two due to measles. She earned her pilot's license in 1928. She 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. Willhite started the first South Dakota chapter of the Ninety-Nines in 1941. She worked as a commercial pilot until 1944, carrying airmail. She also worked as a barnstormer, specializing in flour bombing and balloon racing. She was inducted into the 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.