Nellie Zabel Willhite was South Dakota’s first licensed female pilot and one of the most remarkable aviators of the 1920s. Born in 1892 and deaf from the age of two, she refused to let disability or gender limit her ambitions. In 1927 she paid $200 for flying lessons at Renner Field, soloed after just 13 hours, and earned her pilot’s license in 1928. Nellie will soon be getting her own historical marker on Kiwanis Ave, in Sioux Falls, so this is just a test flight into her world.