In 1912 Harriet Quimby became the first female pilot to fly over this approximately 21-mile-wide body of water
... At the last minute they handed me up a large hot-water bag, which 
Mr. [DOC] [TLE] Harriet Quimby: First Licensed U.S. Woman Pilot | HistoryNet [PAR] On August 1, 1911, Harriet Quimby, a journalist-turned-aviator, received ... She 
thus became the second woman in the world to receive a pilot's license, ... She 
lives as the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel, .... For 
Quimby, this was her first flight in a Blriot, first with a compass, and first across 
water.