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First WOMAN Airplane PILOTS in AMERICA - 1911-12

FIRST PILOT'S LICENSE to be issued to an American girl was held by Harriet Quimby of Boston (July, 1911), later to be the First Woman to Fly the English Channel and finally to meet death in a crash in Boston (see page 249).
The second woman pilot to be licensed in America (August, 1911) was Mathilde Moisant, (below, right) sister of the famous John B. Moisant.  She was one of the world's first woman fliers, taking lessons in handling the plane from her brother even before he took Miss Quimby as a pupil.  Miss Quimby had License No. 37 and Miss Moisant, No. 44.
Miss Moisant held the American altitude record for women with a flight to 1,500 feet above the earth.  She gave up public flying (1912), after her plane caught fire in the air over a Texas city and she came down in flames, but safe except for minor injuries.
The first American girls to do exhibition and stunt flying were Katherine Stinson of Detroit, and Ruth Law of Chicago.  The two became licensed airplane pilots (July, 1912).  Marjorie Stinson, Katherine's younger sister, completed a trio seen in the air in brilliant aerial maneuvers over many American cities and towns.
Ruth Law later held the national non-stop record for a flight from Chicago to Hornell, New York, in an attempt to make New York City, to which she flew the following day.
The Katherine Stinson photograph is in the Horace B. Wild Collection; Ruth Law photograph in the Morton Downs Collection; Mathilde Moisant photograph in the Brown Collection.


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KATHERINE STINSON (Above)
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RUTH LAW (Below)
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MATHILDE MOISANT, FIRST WOMAN FLIER TO BE TAUGHT BY HER FAMOUS BROTHER]]


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