Edna Gardner Whyte

Edna Gardner Whyte (November 3, 1902 – February 15, 1992) was an American aviator whose career as a pilot and instructor spanned more than four decades. She was also an air racer who won more than two dozen races. 2Biography Edna Marvel Gardner was born in 1902 in Mankato, Minnesota. Orphaned early, she was raised by relatives in Wisconsin. She trained to be come a registered nurse, earning her certification in 1924. She made her first solo flight in 1926, from Seattle, Washington, and received her pilot's license in 1928. The following year, she joined the Navy Nurse Corps in Washington, D.C., and taught flying at several nearby airports. She resigned from the Nurse Corps in 1935, preferring to spend her time flying and teaching flying. Beginning in 1930, she participated in over a hundred air races, winning more than two dozen of them and placing in another dozen. She won the Women's International Air Race four times (1953, 1958, 1960, and 1961