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Women of Clark County
Florence Murphy
1911 - 2006
In 1944, Florence Murphy became the first woman in Nevada to earn a commercial pilot's license. She and her husband John owned an airport, which became the homebase for Bonanza Air. Murphy served as Bonanza's vice president and piloted many flights to Reno.
Pictured: A group of Ninety-Nines, an organization of women pilots, posed together at McCarran Field. Florence Murphy (right) is joined by Lela Horn, Margaret Moore, Peg Crockett, Clarice Bessent, and Solange D’Hooghe (left to right). Clark County Museum.
Sources
- Nevada Magazine. “Women’s History in Nevada.” April 2014. https://nevadamagazine.com/issue/march-april-2014/8483/.
- Whitely, Joan Burkhart, ed. Steadfast Sisters of the Silver State: One Hundred Biographical Profiles of Nevada Women in History. Las Vegas: Stephens Press, 2013. https://search.worldcat.org/title/824733811.
For questions or comments, please reach out to the Clark County Museum at ccmuseum@clarkcountynv.gov.