interesting history of the Bleriot airplane

[eflayer]

i just got done with a two week cycling tour in upstate Michigan. lovely. while there, i learned of the female pilot Harriet Quimby. she was supposedly born in MI and apparently quite the daring woman of her day; early in the 1900's. first woman to fly the Channel, but got no recognition due to the near simultaneous sinking of the Titanic. she flew in Bleriots and it sounds as if they were not tried and true as we now see in the bicycle named after the inventor of that plane.

 

her story is summarized here and how she died doing what she loved is a sorta weird and quirky odyssey.

 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/americas-first-lady-of-the-air.html

[MSmith]

Good read.  I love that old time aviation stuff.  Those were truly men and women of steel.  I kind of got a chill at the end of her tale when I looked over my shoulder out the window and can practically see where her final crash took place...

If you ever find yourself in central New York you must check out the Glenn Curtiss Museum.  Curtiss began as a bicycle builder, then switched to motorcycle (he was the holder of the land speed record at one point) then his talents were tapped to design engines for the earliest airplanes.  His company went on to create the "Jenny," the quintessential barnstormer of the Twenties.  The museum is one of the coolest I've ever been to.  Lots of old bikes, motos, and planes.

< http://www.glennhcurtissmuseum.org/>

Cheers- Mike in So. Boston, Mass

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