Hilder F. Smith

Hilder Florentina Smith ( * August 10, 1890; † January 11, 1977 in San Diego, California ) was the first female leader aircraft and the first woman in the U.S. who flew a passenger plane at the airport Los Angeles International Airport.

Life

She was born on 10 August 1890 as Hilder Florentina Youngber. In 1907 she married James Floyd Smith, a test pilot and instructor at the Glenn L. Martin Company. On June 10, 1914 she performed her first solo flight. The first son, Sylvester Smith, was killed by a car in 1919 in Chicago at the age of 11. They had a second son, Prevost Vedrines Smith ( 1913-1991 ). Her husband died in 1956 in San Diego, California, from cancer.

Hilder Smith was nationally known for their acrobatic flights and parachute jumps. Your first pull rope parachute from 1919, which was designed and developed by her husband, is in the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.

She died on January 11, 1977 and was buried in the Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation next to her husband James Floyd Smith in California.

Swell

• Early Birds of Aviation, Paperback ISBN 978-1-155-34919-0 (English)

• Aviation pioneer
• Americans
• Born in 1890
• Died in 1977
• Woman