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Harriet Quimby

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Harriet Quimby (May 11, 1875 – July 1, 1912) was the first female to get a pilot license in the United States. In 1911 (August 1, 1911), she earned the first US pilot's certificate issued to a woman by the Aero Club of America, and less than a year later flew across the English Channel, the first woman to do so. Although Quimby lived only to age 37, she had a major impact on women's roles in aviation.

Early career

A historical marker has been erected near the remains of the farmhouse in Arcadia, Michigan where she was born. After her family moved to San Francisco, California in the early 1900s, she became a journalist. She moved to New York City in 1903 to work as a theatre critic for Leslie's Illustrated Weekly, which published over 250 articles of hers over a nine year period. She became interested in aviation in 1910, when she attended the Belmont Park International Aviation Tournament on Long Island, New York and met Matilde Moisant and her brother John, a well-known American aviator and operator of the flight school. On August 1, 1911, Quimby took her pilot's test and became the first U.S. woman to earn a pilot's certificate. Matilde Moisant soon followed and became the nation's second certificated female pilot.

Hollywood

In 1911 she authored five screenplays that were made into silent film shorts by Biograph Studios. All five of the romance films were directed by director D.W. Griffith with stars such as Florence La Badie, Wilfred Lucas, and Blanche Sweet.

Vin Fiz

The Vin Fiz Company, a division of Armour Meat Packing Plant of Chicago, IL, after Calbraith Perry Rodgers death April 1912, recruited Harriet as the spokesperson for the new grape soda, Vin Fiz. Her distinctive purple aviatrix uniform and image graced many of the advertising pieces of the day.

English Channel

On April 16, 1912, Quimby took off from Dover, England, en route to Calais, France and made the flight in 59 minutes, landing about 25 miles (40 km) from Calais on a beach in Hardelot-Plage, Pas-de-Calais. She had become the first woman to fly the English Channel. Her accomplishment received little media attention, due to the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15.

Death

Quimby's career ended on July 1, 1912. She was flying in the Third Annual Boston Aviation Meet at Squantum, Massachusetts. As a passenger was William Willard, the event's organizer, in her brand-new, two-seat, Bleriot monoplane. The plane unexpectedly pitched forward for reasons that are still unknown. Both Willard and Quimby were ejected and fell to their deaths. Harriet Quimby was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York. The following year her remains were moved to the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.

It is not known for certain, but the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome's restored and flyable Anzani-powered Blériot XI, which bears the Blériot factory's serial number 56, and is still on the US FAA national registry with registration number N60094, could possibly be the aircraft that Quimby was flying in 1912 during the Boston Aviation Meet. The previously wrecked aircraft that is now flying at Old Rhinebeck was found, stored in a barn in Laconia, New Hampshire in the 1960s, and fully restored to flying condition, most likely by Cole Palen, ORA's founder.

A 1991 postage stamp featured Quimby.

She is memorialized in two official Michigan historical markers, one in Coldwater, and one at her birthplace in Manistee County, Michigan.

Timeline

See also

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Airplane

Selected coverage in The New York Times

  • The New York Times, May 11, 1911, page 06, "Woman in trousers daring aviator; Long Island folk discover that miss Harriet Quimby is making flights at Garden City"
  • The New York Times, August 02, 1911, page 07, "Miss Quimby wins air pilot license"
  • The New York Times, September 05, 1911, page 05, "Girl flies by night at Richmond fair; Harriet Quimby darts about in the moonshine above an admiring crowd"
  • The New York Times, September 18, 1911, page 07, "Women aviators to race; the Misses Moisant, Quimby, Scott, and Dutrieu at Nassau meet"
  • The New York Times, September 28, 1911, page 02, "Miss Quimby's flight"
  • The New York Times, April 17, 1912, page 15, "Quimby flies English Channel"
  • The New York Times, June 21, 1912, page 14, "Woman to fly with mail; Miss Quimby Plans Air Trip from Boston to New York"
  • The New York Times, July 02, 1912, page 01, "Miss Quimby dies in airship fall"
  • The New York Times, July 03, 1912, page 07, "Quimby tragedy unexplained"
  • The New York Times, July 04, 1912, page 07, "Services for Harriet Quimby to-night"
  • The New York Times, July 05, 1912, page 13, "Eulogizes Harriet Quimby"
  • The New York Times, July 07, 1912, magazine, "When aviation becomes not only dangerous but foolhardy"

Notes

External links



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