Harriet Quimby (1875 ? 1912), American airwoman and a movie screenwriter. 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, and also the first woman to fly across the English Channel on 16 April 1912. Photographed here getting ready for her flight from Dover to Hardelot, and the arrival.