Everything about Harriet Quimby totally explained
Harriet Quimby (
May 11,
1875 –
July 1,
1912) was the first female to gain a pilot license in the
United States. In 1911 she earned the first U.S. pilot's certificate issued to a woman by the
Aero Club of America, and less than a year later became the first woman to fly across the
English Channel. Although Quimby lived only to age 37, she'd 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 Quimby 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 of her articles 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 a 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 certified female pilot.
Hollywood
In 1911 Quimby 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, recruited Harriet as the spokesperson for the new grape soda, Vin Fiz, after
Calbraith Perry Rodgers' death in April 1912. 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. William Willard, the event's organizer, was a passenger 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, while the plane "glided down and lodged itself in the mud."
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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.
Legacy
The
Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome's restored and flyable Anzani-powered Blériot XI, which bears the Blériot factory's serial number 56, and the still-current
N-number N60094, could possibly be the aircraft that Quimby was flying in 1912 during the Boston Aviation Meet.
The previously wrecked aircraft that's 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.
Aircraft
Further Information
Get more info on 'Harriet Quimby'.
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