Hermelinda Urvina

Hermelinda Urvina Mayorga (26 September 1905 – 20 September 2008) was an Ecuadorian pilot. She was the first South American woman to obtain a pilot's license, issued in the United States in 1932.[1]

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Urvina and the second or maternal family name is Mayorga.
Hermelinda Urvina Mayorga
Hermelinda Urvina in 1932
Born(1905-09-26)September 26, 1905
Ambato, Ecuador
DiedSeptember 20, 2008(2008-09-20) (aged 103)
Toronto, Canada
NationalityEcuadorian
Occupationairplane pilot
Known forFirst South American woman to obtain a pilot's license

Personal life

Urvina was born to José Belisario Urvina and Felicidad Mayorga in the city of Ambato, Ecuador on 26 September 1905. In 1926, she married Rosendo Briones and moved to New York City. She lived in New York from 1945 to 1989, and then moved back to Ecuador until her husband died in 1989. In 1999, she moved to Toronto, Canada to live with one of her daughters. She died in Toronto on 20 September 2008.[2]

Aviation career

In 1932, while living in the US, Hermelinda Urvina earned her pilot's license, becoming the first South American woman to do so.[1] She was an early member of the Ninety-Nines, an international organization for women pilots.[2] In 2000, she was recognized by the Ecuadorian newspaper El Comercio as one of the ten most influential women of the millennium.[1]

References
  1. "10 mujeres ecuatorianas que marcaron la historia del país" [10 Ecuatorian women who left their mark on the country's history] (in Spanish). Diario El Comercio. 8 March 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  2. "Hermelinda Urbina Mayorga de Briones (Obituary)". legacy.com. Toronto Star Newspaper. 23–24 September 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
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