She Flew the English Channel, but the Titanic Buried It

Fact check

The facts and where they come from

1. She did what no woman had ever done, but the world barely noticed. Federal Aviation Administration: the crossing “had been first accomplished by Louis Bleriot in 1909 and subsequently by other pilots, but never by a woman”; “Her hopes for front page headlines never materialized, and her achievement went largely unnoticed in the next days’ papers.” Wikipedia: “Her accomplishment received little media attention.” 18
2. Her name was Harriet Quimby, aviator and journalist. Wikipedia: “an American pioneering aviator, journalist, and film screenwriter.” 8
3. In 1911 she became America’s first licensed woman pilot. Federal Aviation Administration: “on August 2, 1911, after four months and thirty-three lessons, she applied for and won her pilot’s license by performing two test flights. This made her the first American woman …” PBS NOVA: “On August 1, 1911, at age 36, Harriet Quimby became America’s first licensed woman pilot.” 13
4. Then she aimed for the Channel. Federal Aviation Administration: “Quimby decided to attempt a channel crossing from England to France in late 1911 … In March 1912 she sailed for England.” 1
5. A male pilot offered to fly it for her, wearing her purple suit. PBS American Experience: “An accomplished male pilot who showed Quimby how to use a compass was so sure she would fail that he offered to make the flight for her, promising to wear Quimby’s purple flying suit.” PBS NOVA names him: “Hamel even offered to don Quimby’s satin suit and fly in her stead.” 23
6. She said no. PBS American Experience: “She turned down the offer.” 2
7. April 16, 1912: Dover, England. Federal Aviation Administration: “In thickening fog on the morning of April 16, 1912, the adventuresome pilot began her flight from Dover to Calais.” 1
8. She took off in a plane she had never flown. Her own words (PBS American Experience): “They knew I had never used the machine before.” PBS NOVA: “Quimby had never piloted the model, much less the particular plane Blériot had loaned her.” 23
9. Fog swallowed her over the sea. Her words, as the Federal Aviation Administration quotes them: “I could not see ahead of me at all, nor could I see the water below.” PBS NOVA, quoting her: “The fog quickly surrounded me, like a cold, wet, gray blanket.” 13
10. She steered by a compass she had just learned to use. Federal Aviation Administration: “a compass Hamel had recently taught her how to use.” PBS NOVA: she “had never used a compass, which Gustav Hamel … had just taught her to use.” Flight (1912): “Guided solely by compass.” 134
11. About an hour later, she landed on a French beach. Wikipedia: “After 59 minutes flying she landed … on a beach in Équihen-Plage, Pas-de-Calais.” PBS NOVA: “she landed on the beach. Her flight had lasted one hour and nine minutes.” 83
12. She was the first woman to fly the English Channel. Flight (1912): “To Miss Quimby, therefore belongs the honour of being the first of the fair sex to make the journey, unaccompanied, across the Channel on an aeroplane.” The New York Times, April 17, 1912: “American the First Woman to Pilot an Aeroplane Across.” 45
13. But the day before, the Titanic had sunk. Wikipedia: “it occurred the day after news broke of the sinking of the Titanic ocean liner on April 15”; the Titanic “sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912.” The New York Times front page of April 16, 1912, reported the sinking. 896
14. Her flight was buried in the news. PBS NOVA: “no banner headlines followed Quimby’s historic feat … Quimby’s achievement was all but overshadowed.” PBS American Experience: “Her feat coincided with the sinking of the Titanic.” Federal Aviation Administration: “her achievement went largely unnoticed in the next days’ papers.” 321
15. Less than three months later, her plane pitched forward over Boston Harbor. Federal Aviation Administration: “On July 1, 1912, less than three months after her channel crossing, she made her tragic last flight.” Wikipedia: she “flew out to the Boston Light lighthouse in Boston Harbor … the aircraft unexpectedly pitched forward.” 18
16. She and her passenger were thrown out and fell to their deaths. Federal Aviation Administration: “Both she and a passenger were thrown out of the plane, and, in front of horrified spectators, they plummeted to their death in the shallow waters of the Boston harbor.” Wikipedia: “Both fell to their deaths.” The passenger was William A. P. Willard, the meet’s organizer (Wikipedia). The Chicago Tribune, July 2, 1912: “Monoplane Hurls Harriet Quimby to Death in Sea.” 187
17. It took 79 years, but America finally put her on a stamp. Federal Aviation Administration: “Not until almost eighty years after her death did Harriet Quimby receive the kind of accolades she had hoped for after her channel crossing. On April 28, 1991, the United States Post Office issued a commemorative stamp honoring her contributions to aviation.” From her flight in 1912 to the stamp in 1991 is 79 years. 1

Sources

1. Harriet Quimby (aviation pioneers) Federal Aviation Administration
2. Harriet Quimby (Fly Girls) PBS American Experience
3. Queen of the Channel Crossing (Peter Tyson) PBS NOVA
4. Miss Quimby flies the Channel (Flight, April 1912, reprinted) This Day in Aviation
5. Miss Quimby Flies English Channel (April 17, 1912) The New York Times
6. Titanic Sinks Four Hours After Hitting Iceberg (front page, April 16, 1912) The New York Times, via Wikimedia Commons
7. Monoplane Hurls Harriet Quimby to Death in Sea (July 2, 1912) Chicago Tribune, via Wikimedia Commons
8. Harriet Quimby Wikipedia
9. Titanic Wikipedia

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