Harriet Quimby in her Blériot XI monoplane, 1912

March is Women’s History Month.  so it is fitting that America’s first woman pilot graces our monthly flyer. Harriet Quimby (May 11, 1875 – July 1, 1912)  was an early American aviator. In 1911, she was awarded a U.S. pilot’s certificate by the Aero Club of America, becoming the first woman to gain a pilot’s license in the United States. In 1912, she became the first woman to fly across the English Channel. Although Quimby lived only to the age of thirty-seven, she had a major influence upon the role of women in aviation. To read more about her: First lady of the air