Harriet Quimby Biography
If one were to ask you “Who was the first woman in the U.S. to
get a pilot license?” You would probably answer by saying, “Amelia Earheart, of
course.” That answer is incorrect the correct answer is actually Harriet Quimby.
This biography will teach you about her accomplishments, how she was and is
today still a role model for women, how her early experiences led her to become
a pilot, and more!
Harriet Quimby was born in Coldwater, Michigan on May 11; 1875.She was born into a
family of farmers. Harriet was so elegant and sophisticated that most believed
her family was very rich. Something very interesting about her is that there are
not very many records of her childhood. There are not any specific experiences
that led her to become a pilot.
In the early 1900’s Harriet and her family moved to San Francisco. At the time
Harriet was an actor, but despite her amazing acting ability she decided to
become journalist and a critic. She wrote for “The Dramatic Review”, “The
Call”, “The Chronicle” and
“Leslie’s weekly”.
In 1906, Harriet moved to New
York to be a magazines drama critic. She quickly
acquired a job as a photographer. During these nine years Harriet contributed
to more than 350 articles. She wrote about housekeeping and also did a few
drama reviews. Harriet soon became bored with this
job.
Later, in 1906 she told readers what it is like to zip along in a plane.
This article revealed Harriet’s love of planes and machines. This was the first
public sign that made people think that she would like to be a pilot.
The second sign occurred on October 1910 when Harriet attended Belmont
Park International Aviation tournament on Long
Island. Harriet became very interested in flight while watching the
meet. There she met John Moisant, a well known pilot and his sister Matilde.
John and his brother owned a flight school.
After the meet Harriet asked Moisant to teach her to fly. Moisant agreed.
However before Moisant could teach her to fly he died in a plane crash at a meet
in New Orleans. Harriet was still uninitiated. She began lessons with John’s brother Alfred.She quickly discovered how much she loved flying the minute she sat down in the seat.
On August 1, 1911, Harriet Quimby tried for a pilot license. Aero club
officials were unsure about approving the first woman in the U.S. to get a pilot license. In the early 1900’s women were just not supposed to step out of line and do something
bold. A women becoming an aviator when only men were aviators was risky.
Although there was no dodging the fact that Harriet knew her
stuff.
After a long debate Harriet was granted pilot license number 36. This was
the start of something big and very new. Matilde received her pilot license soon
after. They both tried to keep this a secret, but the word got out. Everyone was
talking about it.
Harriet, quickly after obtaining her pilot license made many memorable
flights. One of her first took place in Staten Island, New York in
September 1911. This was the first moonlit flight.
Then, in November she and Matilde joined the Moisant Aviation Club and
toured Mexico, There she an Matilde became the first women to fly over Mexico.
Harriet was happy with what changes were happening. Along with loving her
new job, she got paid very well and everyone loved her. She could earn somewhere
between 1,000-10,000 dollars for every flight. The press nicknamed her “China
Doll” or “Dresden China Aviatrix”. They used these nicknames because of her
petite figure.
Even though Harriet was doing some major flights she was still writing
for Leslie’s Weekly. She would write about her
flight experiences. She also wrote about how risky
it is to fly. When readers read this they started to become interested in flight
themselves.
Quimby sailed for Englandin March 1911, to attempt her main
aviation goal, to become the first women to fly across the English Channel. Louis Bleriot had flown across the English Channel 3 years earlier, but no women
had ever accomplished this challenging task nor had a woman attempted this. Very
few people knew about this plan. She decided on this, because she did not want
other women to attempt this before she did. She also feared people may try to
stop her because of the dangers involved.
One of her best friends tried to stop her. With the best intentions, her
friend offered to disguise himself and take the risk of flying the English Channel. Harriet refused.
On April 16, 1912 Harriet took off for France! She was flying at altitudes between 1,000-2,000 feet the whole time. Harriet fought her way through fog and finished the flight in 59 minutes! Very few people paid attention to this amazing story, because the titanic had sunk only 2 days before this wonderful accomplishment and it was still the big news, so sadly this article got pushed to the last page if any page of
newspapers/magazines.
After flying the English Channel, Harriet returned to New York to resume her flying career. But her
career ended permanently in a horrible tragedy. On July 1, 1912, participating in a
Third Annual Boston Aviation meet that horrible tragedy occurred. She was flying
with the meet’s director William Willard, when all of the sudden she and Willard
fell out of the plane into shallow waters in a lake near the meet. There are
many possibilities to how this could have happened; one possibility is that
they were not wearing seatbelts.
Harriet Quimby was the first American woman to become a pilot. Harriet
was and still is an amazing role model for women. She helped the flight
industry blossom. Harriet was a very amazing woman.