Harriet Quimby

Profession: Aviator

Nationality:

Biography: Harriet Quimby was an American aviator, journalist, and screenwriter. She is best known for being the first woman in the United States to receive a pilot's license and the first woman to fly across the English Channel. Despite dying young at 37 in a flying accident, Quimby significantly impacted women's roles in aviation.

Quimby was born in Michigan but moved with her family to California and later to San Francisco, where she began her journalism career. She wrote for various publications before moving to New York City in 1903 as a theater critic for Leslie's Illustrated Weekly, writing over 250 articles.

Quimby's interest in aviation started at the 1910 International Aviation Meet. There she met aviator John Moisant and his sister Matilde. She soon went on to become the first licensed American female pilot in 1911.

Quimby wrote about her flying adventures and saw aviation as a sport suitable for women. She joined the Moisant International Aviators and made a healthy living through her performances at airshows. Quimby wrote screenplays and briefly acted in movie, as well as serving as spokesperson for Vin Fiz soda.

In April of 1912, she flew over the English Channel, being the first woman to do so, although her achievement was somewhat overshadowed by the Titanic disaster. Many had expected her to fail, whereas she herself had expected someone else to beat her to this feat and so had planned it all in secrecy.

Quimby died in a flying accident at an aviation meet in Massachusetts. Her life and achievements are honored by several memorials and she was posthumously inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame and other organizations.

Born: May 11, 1875
Birthplace: Arcadia, Michigan, USA
Star Sign: Taurus

Died: July 1, 1912 (aged 37)
Cause of Death: Plane crash after her brand-new two-seat Bleriot biplane unexpectedly pitched forward and threw her and her passenger to their deaths, while the plane "glided down and lodged itself in the mud".