[Harriet Quimby]

Harriet Quimby broke the mold of what was expected of a woman at the turn of the 20th century in more than one way. She held a successful career as journalist in New York, she never married, and she eventually became the first woman in the US to obtain a pilot’s license and was also the first woman to fly solo across the English channel.

Quimby was born in Coldwater, Michigan in 1875 and grew up in Arroya Grande, California to a mother who instilled a strong sense of confidence and belief she could do whatever she put her mind to. After working as a journalist for almost a decade, she became enchanted with flying after attending the Belmont Park Air Meet in October 1910. She promptly decided to take flying lessons at Moisant Aviation School on Long Island, and under a year later, she earned her pilot’s license. As a member of the Moisant International Aviators exhibition team, she flew in many air shows over the next year, competing for prize money and gaining acclaim and notoriety as one of the only female pilots flying at the time. Her proudest accomplishment was crossing the English Channel solo, which she achieved on April 16th, 1912. She hoped this feat would bring her international attention, but her flight was overshadowed in the press by the sinking of the Titanic the day before. She died just a few months later in July 1912 when she lost control of her aircraft and was thrown from her plane during an air show in Boston.