AMERICA'S FIRST LADY TO ACHIEVE A PILOT'S LICENSE and
THE FIRST WOMAN TO FLY THE ENGLISH CHANNEL
Harriet Quimby was born in 1875, in the state of Michigan. After a failed attempt at farming, the Quimby family headed to California and settled in the San Francisco area. In her younger years, Harriet aspired to be an actress. However, she ended up as a journalist working for the San Francisco Bulletin. She wrote articles about art colonies in Monterey and San Francisco's Chinatown. In 1905, Harriet set out for New York and eventually got a job with a prestigious publication called Leslie's Illustrated Weekly. Her articles were aimed mostly at women and ranged from household tips to financial guidance. Her work also included interviews of many "unusual" people and on one assignment, she was invited to visit the Vanderbilt automobile race track. She was given a ride in a race car. After several 100 miles per hour laps around the track, she became "hooked" on high speed.
In 1910, Harriet covered the Belmont Park International Aviation Tournament. After that assignment, Harriet was determined to learn to fly and in the summer of 1911, she started training. She tried to keep it a secret by showing up for her early morning flights wearing a long duster coat and a helmet. Eventually, the word got out and she became "headline news" in her own newspaper! This was during a time when women were supposed to be "at home" and, certainly, not out driving fast motorcars or flying. On July 31, 1911, Harriet passed her ground and flights tests and became the first American woman to receive an internationally-recognized pilot's license.
In 1909, Louis Bleriot, a well-known French aviator and airplane builder, became the first human to fly across the English Channel. Bleriot became an international celebrity and inspired Harriet to become the first woman to make the flight. She sailed to England in March of 1912 and eventually met and became friends with Louis Bleriot. In the early morning hours of April 16th, 1912, Harriet flew into the history books by becoming the first woman to fly across the English Channel to France. The flight took 59 minutes. When she landed, local fishermen gave her a champagne welcome and carried her on their shoulders to an awaiting crowd. Unfortunately, Harriet did not receive the recognition she deserved in the press because, just two days earlier, the great ocean liner, Titanic, had sunk and this information dominated much of the world news.
Younger youth. It is worth noting that Harriet dealt with her disappointment in a positive manner. She had experienced disappointment and witnessed failure from early life onward, from both within her family and also for herself. But she also learned to persevere. She did not "drown her sorrows" in alcohol. Rather, she chose instead to pursue the new and largely unknown world of flight. In a very positive sense, she became "hooked" on flying. She continued in her quest to explore flying, and as dangerous as it was, she was none the less determined to learn and experience still more firsts in the air. She set high standards for herself, one of which was to live drug-free. Way to be!
Older youth: There are many ways to define courage, especially when going by examples. Harriet Quimby was by all definitions courageous. At a time when flying was still in its infancy, and so much was still to be learned, Harriet chose to explore this challenging world of the unknown. Flying was incredibly dangerous because so little was known. Planes were really very crude and simple in design - much of it flawed - especially by today's standards. That did not discourage her in the least. Instead, she sought out new challenges, and there were many, as noted here. She could have chosen to use drugs and alcohol to calm her fears, or to overcome any hesitancy she might have felt. But she didn't. She was far too smart to do something so stupid, or to allow it to interfere with her effort to add still more accomplishments to her significant list of achievements. How else might one describe courage? Harriet lived by self-imposed standards of excellence, commitment and determination, including a determination to be drug-free. Now there's a standard we can all live with. Drug-free! Way to be!
After returning to the United States, Harriet hired a publicity manager and one of the events on her calendar was the Third Annual Boston Aviation Meet near Quincy, Massachusetts. She was scheduled to fly a new two-seat Bleriot that had been shipped from France. The event organizer, William Williard, was given the privilege of making a promotional flight with Harriet. History describes him as being overweight and excitable. At an altitude of approximately 1500 feet, it was observed that Williard apparently unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned forward in an attempt to communicate with Harriet. Apparently Harriet had unbuckled her seatbelt to answer him and it was at that point that the Bleriot pitched downward throwing Williard out of the aircraft. It was observed that Harriet tried to regain control, but she, too, was thrown from the plane. Both died in the accident.
This curriculum is sponsored by the Drug Demand Reduction
Program of the Civil Air Patrol National Headquarters
Maxwell AFB, Alabama
