Earhart and Quimby

Amelia Earhart - everyone knows her name. Well maybe not everyone, but she seems pretty popular at the moment. First Night in the Museum 2 (oh Amelia, how the mighty have fallen) and now a new film about her life simply entitled Amelia have once more set her firmly in the public eye.

And it's easy to see why Amelia has such enduring international fame. In 1932 she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She was setting records in a male-dominated field, one of the rare women pilots in the pioneering age of aviation. But perhaps she is best remembered for her mysterious disappearance in 1937, the subject of numerous conspiracy theories. It is a shame that the circumstances surrounding her death should overshadow the achievements of her life.

But Amelia wasn't the only American aviatrix of her time. she wasn't even the first. That honour goes to a woman by the name of Harriet Quimby.



Harriet was something of a trendsetter; she drove a motor car, smoked (scandalous for a woman at the start of the 20th Century), was a reporter, a playwright. In 1911she added pilot to the list, being the first American woman to gain her license. ON 16th April 1912 she became the first woman to fly solo across the English Channel, piloting a monoplane she had borrowed from Louis Bleriot for the occasion.

Sadly the Titanic had sunk just the day before. That tragedy dominated the headlines and Harriet's achievement went almost unremarked.

Still, Harriet went on to become a star turn in the flying circuses that were so popular at the time. She wore a plum coloured satin flight suit with a hood and cat-like goggles - quite a fashion statement! Three months after her Channel crossing she attended the Third Annual Boston Aviation Show, taking the organiser William Willard for a spin over the bay.

No-one knows for sure what went wrong. Harriet's 'plane crashed, killing both herself and Willard.

Now Harriet was one of Amelia Earhart's inspirations, and yet few people today have ever heard of her today. Perhaps it was just the unfortunate timing of her greatest achievement. Regardless, I doubt we'll be seeing a Harriet movie coming out of Hollywood anytime soon, mores the pity.