Harriet Quimby was born in Michigan in 1875 and lived on the family farm until it went bankrupt. Around age 25 she moved to San Francisco, California where she got the stage bug and dreamed about becoming an actress. This was not to be however but her superb writing skills made her into a journalist and screen writer.
Soon she moved to New York where she practiced her journalism and was frequently in the public eye becoming the sweetheart of the Big Apple.
She got her pilot’s license on 1 August 1911 and subsequently went to numerous air shows in the US and Mexico, wearing a unique, purple flying suit of her own design, fabricated from a satin material. She set another record in 1912 when she flew across the English Channel as the first woman having done so.
On 1 July 1912 she was flying over the bay near Quincy, Massachusetts. With her in the plane was the manager of the air meet she was attending. While pulling a publicity stunt, both she and the manager fell out of the plane as it suddenly pitched forward. The cause has never been reliably established.
So ended the career of the first woman pilot in US history. Had she been given more time, she would probably be there with the biggest and brightest among US aviation pioneers.