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The Magnificent Moisants : Champions of Early Flight

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Any student of early aviation in America will realized that, in addition to the Wright brothers and Glenn Curtiss, there were many relatively unheralded pioneers who played a decisive role in making aviation accessible and popular. Doris L. Rich, author of the excellent 1989 Amelia Earhart and Queen Bess: Daredevil Aviator, has produced a noteworthy history of the fabulous Moisant family, who contributed no small amount to getting aircraft and the training it took to handle them to the forefront in America. A family of French speaking immigrants from Canada originally, the Moisants had made their fortunes in the 1800s by managing a lucrative sugar plantation in El Salvador. The children of the original Alfred Moisant, "Johnny" Moisant, older brother Alfred Moisant, and their shy sister Mathilde all played a role in developing aviation in the U.S. The Moisant Aviation School and the Moisant International Aviators helped to develop the talents of Harriet Quimby, the first woman licensed aviatrix in America and the Frenchman Roland Garros, who became a hero in the soon-to-come First World War. This book outlines the adventures of the Moisants and the eventual decline of the Moisant aviation combine after the deaths of John Moisant and Harriet Quimby and the retirement from aviation of Mathilde Moisant. An important work on early aviation history and for the earliest efforts of women in aviation.