Ever since the Wright brothers had kept a plane aloft for an hour, her [Ethel Locke King’s] ambition had been to be the first woman to fly, and in 1910 she had been up on a couple of trial flights with the French aviator M. Paulham before he flew from London to Manchester, and was almost strangled mid-air when her long silk scarf got caught in the propeller, becoming the inspiration for the female lead in the film Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.
Source:
Lamb, Christina. “Part One: 1914-1927, Chapter 3.” The Africa House: The True Story of An English Gentleman and His African Dream. Harper Collins Publishers, 2004. 35. Print.
Further Reading:
Thanks for this! Can't wait to see if it's available at my library.