Before They Could Vote: American Women's Autobiographical Writing, 1819–1919

20. “How I Made My First Big Flight Abroad: My Flight Across the English Channel” (1912)

20 “How I Made My First Big Flight Abroad: My Flight Across the English Channel” (1912) Harriet Quimby harriet quimby (1875?–1912), in a narrative alleging she was the daughter of wealthy parents who provided her with a first-class education, claimed she was born in Arroyo Grande, California, in 1884. It is believed, however, that she was born on May 11, 1875, in Kinderhook Township, Michigan, and raised on a farm. In 1900 the family moved to San Francisco, where Quimby dreamt of becoming an actress and began, in 1902, to write for the Dramatic Review. After working as one of the first female newspaper reporters at The San Francisco Call, she moved to New York where she worked for Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly as a writer and photojournalist from 1903 to 1912. Her award-winning photographs and clever articles made her a chief contributor to the periodical and a key figure in the New York literary scene, and she was promoted to an editorial position. Thrilled by John Moisant’s performance at the 1910 Belmont Park Aviation Meet, Quimby asked this daredevil aviator to give her flying 398 lessons. She and Moisant’s sister Matilde took lessons at his school of aviation on Long Island, scheduling them at dawn in order not to interfere with Quimby’s work at Leslie’s. Although Matilde began her lessons earlier, Quimby, after four months and thirty-three lessons, earned her pilot’s license fifteen days before Matilde, making her the first licensed woman pilot in America. Subsequently America’s first two women fliers joined the Moisant International Aviators and performed in Mexico City, shocking the amazed spectators. Quimby determined that she would become the first woman to fly the English Channel, but she kept her plan to herself to prevent others from attempting it first. Quimby’s initial worries that flying might jeopardize her career were allayed when her employer sponsored her proposed flight and provided a letter of introduction to French airplane designer Louis Blériot, who supplied a 50-horsepower monoplane. Quimby was undaunted by the fact that she had never flown a Blériot before and by the widespread belief that a woman could not accomplish such a feat. Quimby’s advisor, pilot Gustav Hamel, offered to make the flight disguised as her. On the morning of April 16, 1912, Quimby, in her notorious violet flying suit and matching jewelry, took off from Dover. An hour and nine minutes later, she landed twenty-five miles short of the proposed destination, making her historic landing on a beach in the isolated town of Hardelot, France. Public response to her flight ranged from wild enthusiasm to condescension and indifference. Quimby continued to travel on the lucrative air-show exhibition circuit. On July 1, 1912, she flew the Blériot in a publicity stunt at the Harvard-Boston Aviation Meet. She and her passenger, air show manager William Willard, took off for a flight around the Boston lighthouse, but the plane lurched and began to nose dive, and they were thrown to their deaths in the shallow water. Strangely enough, the plane then landed itself, coming out of the nosedive and gliding to a stop without much damage. While Quimby left behind prolific accounts of American life in the early twentieth century and played a major role in aviation and women’s history, only scant facts are known about her personal life. She never married or had children, but lived with and supported her mother and drove her own car. The article included here (from Fly Magazine, June 1912) indicates, however, that Quimby’s flight “How I Made My First Big Flight Abroad” 399 experiences contributed to remaking her view of herself as a futureoriented subject, as Sidonie Smith suggests (2001). - (The first woman to fly the English Channel) Published by permission of the Leslie-Judge Co. Copyright 1912, LeslieJudge Co. “How I Made My First Big Flight Abroad: My Flight Across the English Channel” While flying in Mexico, at President Madero’s inauguration, last December , an ambition to be the first woman aviator to cross the English Channel alone entered my mind. The more I thought of it, the less formidable the feat seemed to be. Without mentioning the matter to a soul, for fear that some one across the sea might anticipate my idea, I waited until my return to New York. There I secured a letter...