Girls and Aircraft - Volume II

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v2 said:
April 16th, 1912 - Harriet Quimby becomes 1st woman pilot to cross English Channel
View attachment 717417
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Whoa! Propping that Anzani motor with its meat cleaver propeller in all that floppy clothing looks like a Darwin Award candidate to me. Darwin did score in the end, but for lack of a seat belt when her Bleriot spontaneously attempted an outside loop. A positive lift horizontal stabilizer on a conventional tractor monoplane is a bad idea.
 
special ed said:
I thought that was John B. Moisant in his Bleriot.
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Him too. That positive lift horizontal stabilizer was the Bleriot's Achilles heel. Any sudden increase in airspeed, such as in a dive, would cause the stab to generate more lift on the tail than the elevators could counteract, steepening the dive uncontrollably and pitching the unrestrained pilot from the cockpit. Later versions of the plane are reported to have had this corrected, costing some of its already limited performance.
 
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Accoding to Wiki...
"On July 1, 1912, she flew in the Third Annual Boston Aviation Meet at Squantum, Massachusetts....at an altitude of 1,000 feet (300 m) the aircraft unexpectedly pitched forward for reasons still unknown. Both (event organizer William A.P.) Willard and Quimby were ejected from their seats and fell to their deaths, while the plane 'glided down and lodged itself in the mud'."

Maybe a gust of head wind cause that horizontal stabilizer to lift the tail suddenly?
 
It got dark all of a sudden….

But, you're right, aviation is dangerous. It reminds me of an Ernie Gann quote, "In this business, we play for keeps."
 
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