Matilde Moisant

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Matilde Moisant, 1912

Matilde Moisant (born September 13, 1878 in Earl Park , Indiana , † February 5, 1964 in Glendale , California ) was an American pilot and the second American with her own pilot's license.

Life

Matilde Moisant was a daughter of the French-Canadian farmer Médore Moisant (1839–?) And his wife Joséphine Fortier (1841–1901). She grew up with her eight siblings in Manteno , Illinois .

Matilde Moisant and Harriet Quimby, 1912

She discovered her interest in aviation with her brothers. Including John Bevins Moisant (1868-1910), a popular aviator and flight instructor, who had become famous for his victory in the race for the Statue of Liberty . Matilde and Harriet Quimby (1875-1912) began to take flying lessons at their brothers John and Alfred's flight school, the Moisant School of Aviation in Mineola , Long Island . The Wright brothers did not accept female student pilots at the time. Although John Moisant was killed in a crash shortly afterwards, the two women continue class. On August 17, 1911, Moisant was the second woman to receive her flight license in the USA.

On September 12, 1911, she flew her Bleriot monoplane to an altitude of 1200 feet (370 m) above Nassau Boulevard in Garden City and won the Rodman Wanamaker Trophy. In 1912 she set the height record for a woman over Mexico City . In the first few months she was in competition with the Belgian pilot Hélène Dutrieu (1877–1961); she was the first female pilot to take a passenger and in the Paris Air Force. After Moisant's machine caught fire on April 14, 1912 in Wichita Falls , Texas due to a leak in the fuel tank on landing ; she stopped flying at the request of her family. Moisant then lived on the family farm in San Salvador . During the First World War she served as a radio operator for the Red Cross.

Matilde Moisant died on 5 February 1964 at the age of 85 years in the sanatorium of Glendale and their remains were in the portal of the folded wings ( dt .: the folded wings Portal) in Valhalla Memorial Park, North Hollywood, Los Angeles buried.

literature

  • CM Oakes .: United States Women in Aviation Through World War I , Smithsonian Institution Press (1978)
  • DLRich: The Magnificent Moisants - Champions of Early Flight , Smithsonian Institution Press (1998) ISBN 1-56098-860-6

Web links

Commons : Matilde Moisant  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Moisant, Matilde
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Moisant, Matilde E.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pilot and second American with her own pilot license
DATE OF BIRTH September 13, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Earl Park , Indiana
DATE OF DEATH 5th February 1964
Place of death Glendale , California