Harriet Quimby: First Licensed U.S. Woman Pilot

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A.J. Philpott, in the next morning’s Boston Globe, described the accident as ‘one of the worst tragedies that ever happened at an air meet in America,’ one, he wrote, that ’caused women to shriek and men to turn sick at heart.’ He added, ‘Just exactly what happened — what caused the accident — no one will ever know.’ A premature judgment, as events turned out, yet not entirely unjustified.

What caused the tragedy? The best that the encyclopedias and histories seem able to offer are such phrases as’some unexplained reason,’ ‘Nobody could ever explain the cause of the tragedy,’ and ‘Miss Quimby was killed in a flying accident at Boston in 1912.’ Hardly enlightening.

Philpott and other reporters did their best. The Globe of July 2 quoted several experts who were quick to advance their theories, however conflicting. Earl Ovington, a leading pilot of the day, and one of the first to reach the partially submerged plane, said he found that a rudder control wire was caught over the lower end of the vertical control lever used to warp the wings. This, he explained, caused the machine ‘to turn left and pitch headforemost downward,’ catapulting the occupants out. Ovington said that the jammed controls ‘unquestionably’ caused the accident. The jamming sequence began, he declared, when Quimby ‘moved the vertical warping lever sharply to the right, probably to correct for a gust of wind which struck her on the starboard side.’

Others disputed Ovington’s theory. Although conceding that. the beliefs of’such an experienced aviator should command respectful consideration,’ the Evening Globe of July 2 declared that ‘a careful examination of that particular part of the machine this morning with a full knowledge of Ovington’s theory in mind failed to verify his findings. Photographs were taken to substantiate the apparent errors in Mr. Ovington’s deductions.’

Of Ovington’s contention that a loosened wire had caught over the end of the control post, the Globe said: ‘This morning that self-same experiment was tried and it was found that the wires… failed to come anywhere near the tip of the vertical rod. With that theory disproved, all sorts of experiments were tried with the vertical post and the rudder and warping wires and the elevating wires. The rudder wires, controlled by the feet, in no way conflicted with the wires leading to the elevator, and the warping wires were safely removed from possible contact with the other sets.’

The experiments supported the views of Quimby’s French mechanic, Hardy, who, the Globe reported, became ‘wrathy’ when Ovington,only minutes after the accident, stated his beliefs to several bystanders, including Hardy.

Asked for his theory on the failed flight, Hardy had replied: ‘Too steep a glide. The machine lost its balance.’ He voiced strong doubts there had been any mechanical failure. ‘I personally tested every screw, bolt. and wire before we pushed the machine from the hangar, he said. ‘I always did that for I would never allow Miss Quimby to get into the seat, much less allow her to carry a passenger, unless I was satisfied that every part of the machine was perfect. But what could have happened? I can only say what has always happened to Blériot monoplanes …. Most of the accidents to Blériot types have happened almost always alike. They all have lost their balance.’

A reference in the Globe of July 3 added further support to Hardy’s words. ‘It appears,’ said the item, ‘that accidents similar to this one have occurred many times in France — always with fatal results and nearly always in the Blériot monoplane. The French government is at present engaged in an investigation of this kind of accident with the Blériot monoplane. It is supposed to be due to the curve at the entrant edge of the planes.’

The Globe also noted that John Moisant had been flying a monoplane ‘modeled after Blériot’s most up-todate machine when he plunged headforemost to earth’ at New Orleans.

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Tags: Adventurers & Trail Blazers, Aviation History, Historical Figures, Women's History

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