Last year I started working at a local air and space museum and I learned a lot about early aviation accomplishments in the process. One thing that really captured my attention was how many women were on the forefront of these early, daring feats. I always thought of the women of that time as being delicate, timid, and well protected by men. I came to find out that while that type of woman was prevalent at the time, there certainly was no shortage of women willing to jump in the cockpit and take to the skies!
The Ninety Nines Founding Members
That said, in an effort to shine a light on the courageous women of the early 20th century, I am going to highlight an amazing aviatrix every so often, in my blog posts. Today I’ll focus on the first American woman to get her pilot’s license.
Who do you think was the first American woman aviator? Did you think it was Amelia Earhart? Amelia was an accomplished aviator, but she was not the first. She wasn’t even 2nd or 3rd. She was 16th.
It was not Amelia.
Harriet Quimby
Harriet Quimby was the first American woman pilot and she was quite an interesting woman! One of my favorite facts about Harriet was how she obtained her pilot’s license in the first place. Working as a journalist for a magazine, Harriet worked out a deal with the magazine to pay for her flight lessons and in exchange she would write articles about the experience.
Payment for lessons was only the first hurdle to conquer. At the time, none of the flight schools would let women take flight lessons, so she had to figure out a way to get someone to teach her. Even the fathers of aviation, Orville and Wilbur Wright believed that an airplane was no [place for a woman. That didn’t stop Harriet, she quickly befriended Matilde Moisant, the sister of the Moisant brothers (owners of a local flight school on Long Island) who soon convinced her brothers to teach Harriet.
Before long, she was licensed, flying everywhere and attempting all sorts of aviation firsts and records. One such achievement was when she became the first woman to fly solo across the English channel. Unfortunately, she did not get the recognition she was expecting from it since it happened just a day after the Titanic sinking. Despite the lack of notoriety for the crossing she did still go down in history as the woman to fly across the English Channel.
Harriet was quite an interesting character, who stood out among her gender. She was a car driving, airplane flying, cigarette smoking single woman. This was a rarity in that time, but she wasn’t alone. Harriet herself even told a reporter once that she felt women were well suited to fly, stating “I have never met a woman who did not want to fly. I don’t know whether they lack caution, whether they are reckless and don’t care what becomes of them, but they are certainly keen about the fascinating air game.” After the conversation, this same reporter wrote that Harriet was “just too awfully enthusiastic about things.”
Another interesting thing to note about Miss Quimby was that she was very fashion conscious and feminine. So much so that she designed her own signature flying suit made from purple satin with a matching hood. The flight suit was a one piece jumpsuit much like the men wore, but it’s purple satin material glistened from the cockpit. Upon stepping out of the cockpit Miss Quimby could simply pull her satin pants out from her boots, unbutton and re-button the inside seam and then she was wearing a lovely purple dress. And there she was, Harriet Quimby: Aviatrix, fashionista, and gender role buster! You go Harriet! Happy Independence Day – we salute you.