Quimby, Harriet (1875-1912), was the first licensed female airplane pilot in the United States. She was also the first woman to pilot a plane across the English Channel.
Quimby was born in May 1875, most likely on her parents’ farm near Arcadia, Michigan. The family left the farm in the 1880’s and is thought to have moved to Arroyo Grande, California. The family later moved to San Francisco, where Harriet expressed interest in becoming an actress. She instead earned a name for herself as a journalist. During the early 1900’s, she contributed articles to The Bulletin and other San Francisco newspapers. In 1903, Quimby moved to New York City and took a job writing theater reviews and feature articles for the magazine Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. She made many trips abroad and, in addition to writing, took photographs for the magazine during her journeys.
In 1910, at an aviation tournament, Quimby met John Moisant, who owned a flying school with his brother Alfred. She persuaded the brothers to let herself and their sister, Matilde, take flying lessons at their school. Quimby earned her pilot’s license in August 1911.
In 1912, Quimby decided to attempt a flight across the English Channel. She traveled to England and met with Louis Bleriot, the French aviation pioneer who first crossed the channel by airplane. Quimby persuaded Bleriot to lend her a monoplane for the channel crossing. On April 16, she crossed the waterway from England to France in 59 minutes.
On July 1, 1912, Quimby flew at the Third Annual Boston Aviation Meet near Quincy, Massachusetts. During a flight with the meet’s organizer, William A. P. Willard, Quimby lost control of her plane. Both she and her passenger fell to their deaths.
