Matilde Moisant


Matilde Josephine Moisant was an American pioneer aviator who became the second woman in the United States to obtain a pilot's license.

Early life

Moisant was born on September 13, 1878, in Earl Park, Indiana, to Médore Moisant and Joséphine Fortier. Both parents were French Canadians. Her siblings include George, John, Annie M., Alfred Moisant, Louise J. and Eunice Moisant. John and Alfred were also aviators. In 1880, the family was living in Manteno, Illinois, and her father was working as a farmer.

Career

Moisant learned to fly at Alfred's Moisant Aviation School on Long Island, New York. On August 13, 1911, a few weeks after her friend Harriet Quimby received her pilot's certificate, Matilde Moisant became the second woman pilot certified by the Aero Club of America. She pursued a career in exhibition flying, known as barn storming. In September 1911, she flew in the air show at Nassau Boulevard airfield in Garden City, New York and, while competing against Hélène Dutrieu, Moisant broke the women's altitude world record and won the Rodman-Wanamaker trophy by flying to.

Retirement

Moisant stopped flying on April 14, 1912, in Wichita Falls, Texas when her plane crashed. A few months later on July 1, 1912, Quimby was killed when she was thrown from her plane. Although Moisant recovered from her injuries, she gave up flying. During World War I she volunteered at the front in France. She spent several years dividing her time between the U.S. and the family plantation in El Salvador, before returning to the Los Angeles area.

Death

Matilde Moisant died in 1964 in Glendale, California, aged 85, and was interred in the Portal of [Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation] in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery, North [Hollywood, Los Angeles, California].

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