In April 1912 Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly an aeroplane across the English Channel. Her achievement was overshadowed in the press by the sinking of the Titanic, which occurred the previous day. Even so, the flight was a landmark in women's aviation.

The crossing joined aviation to changing literary images of female self-command and public adventure. Its eclipse by Titanic also shows how modernity offered competing symbols: the doomed liner below and the daring aeroplane above.