Daring and Intrepid Airwomen: Long Island’s Pioneer Women Aviators

Join Professor Natalie Naylor for a lecture on Long Island's influential women in aviation.

Bessica Raiche, Harriet Quimby, and Matilde Moisant were pioneering women pilots who flew on Long Island in the 1910s. They were followed by other women who took flying lessons on the Hempstead Plains. In 1927, seventeen-year-old Elinor Smith from Freeport flew under all four East River bridges, a feat not matched to this day. Amy Phipps Guest of Old Westbury was responsible for propelling Amelia Earhart to fame. Learn about these women and Long Island’s other early women aviators. Also includes information on the “Janes who made the planes” on Long Island during World War II.

Natalie Naylor taught Long Island history and other courses in American social history at Hofstra where she was also Director of Hofstra’s Long Island Studies Institute from its founding in 1985 until she retired in 2000. She edited several of the Institute books. Dr. Naylor was president of the Nassau County Historical Society for 12 years, the author of Women in Long Island’s Past (2012), has written many articles on local history, and speaks frequently on Long Island history at libraries and historical societies.