On May 18, 1953, piloting a USAF Northrop T-38 Talon, Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman in the world to fly faster than the speed of sound, earning the nickname, “Speed Queen.” In addition to breaking the sound barrier that day, Cochran set an altitude record of 56,071.80 feet. Cochran was a woman of so many firsts in aviation. Jacqueline Cochran was legendary with a career spanning important years in aviation history. Along with great executive and marketing abilities, she was a really good pilot. Her early years were murky by her design with a legend of born in extreme poverty around 1906 in Florida. She was not an abandoned child but certainly did not have an easy life. She married Robert Cochran as a teenager. Her son died as a child. After that marriage failed, Jackie kept Cochran as her last name. A few biographies say she picked her name out of the telephone book when she decided to create a new image and identify.
With true grit, Jacqueline learned the beauty trade. Made her way catering to wealthy clientele through high-end New York and Miami hair salons. In the early 1930s, at a sophisticated dinner party, she found herself seated next to one of the wealthiest men in America at the time, Floyd Odlum. They connected on many levels that night. Jackie shared her dream to leave the salons and build a cosmetics business.
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Odlum gave her some sage advice. “There’s a depression on, Jackie. If you’re going to cover the territory you need to cover in order to make money in this kind of economic climate, you’ll need wings. Get your pilot’s license.” Jackie Cochran immediately grasped the wisdom. Within weeks she earned her private pilot’s license. She loved the power of her control of the machine. Aviation became a passion. Cochran quit her hair salon job. With a growing romantic relationship with Floyd, she knew with his resources and connections, her sky had no limits.
In 1932, she earned her pilot's license at Roosevelt Field, Long Island, in a Fleet Trainer. She entered her first long distance race, The MacRobertson London to Australia Race in 1934, flying the unforgiving Gee Bee Q.E.D. along with Wesley Smith and led the race briefly but was unable to finish due to faulty flaps. Cochran entered her first Bendix Trophy Race in 1935 but did not finish due to engine problems. Before Jackie Cochran this race was limited to male pilots. In 1936, she married millionaire Floyd Odlum. In 1937, Jackie once again entered The Bendix Trophy Race in a Beech Staggerwing. She took first place in the Women's Division of The Bendix and third overall flying from Los Angeles, California, to Cleveland, Ohio, at an average speed of 194.74 mph.
In 1938, Jacqueline won The Bendix Trophy Race flying a Seversky P-35 in an elapsed time of 8 hours: ten minutes and.31 seconds at an average speed of 249.774 mph. Also in 1938, she was awarded the prestigious Harmon Trophy as Outstanding Female Pilot of 1937, setting three major course records: The Women's National Speed Record (203.895 mph in a Beech Staggerwing), The Women's World Speed Record (292.271 mph in a Seversky P-35), and The New York To Miami Speed Record (with an elapsed time of only 4 hours:12 minutes and.27 seconds, also in a Seversky). She went on to establish a Women's National Altitude Record in 1939 flying to 30,052.43 feet over Palm Springs, California, and an International Speed Record on a 1,000 kilometer course of 305.926 mph.
Before long, Jackie Cochran became the woman to watch with frequent photographs and press reports about her accomplishments. (photo Wikipedia)
During all these flying adventures, Jackie built a thriving cosmetics empire, using only the best ingredients. Her aviation fame helped promote her beauty line to working women, who saw her as a role model. In fact in 1941, after she became the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic to highlight the importance of supporting England’s fight in World War II, hand-written letters poured into her beauty headquarters offices about how proud the women were to wear her make-up. Although Jackie always wanted to be a successful business woman, aviation was her life’s passion.
Many readers may know of her successful leadership during World War II of our WASP which created a corps of American women flyers in noncombat roles to ferry military airplanes from factories to U.S. Air Bases. WASP flew many important missions for the military. She designed and paid for the WASP Santiago Blue uniform. She personally interviewed WASP candidates.
Jacqueline Cochran in the WASP Santiago Blue uniform. (photograph Wikipedia)
More in-depth history of the WASP uniforms can be found at www.wingsacrossamerica.us The backstory is so Jackie Cochran. “Two sample uniforms were made: one with the Army olive drab wool material and one with a ‘classy’ Santiago blue wool gabardine that coincidentally resembles a color now called ‘Air Force Blue.’ A gorgeous French model was selected to model the blue uniform and a Quartermaster Corps clerk was recruited to model the olive drab uniform. The Generals chose the blue uniform, and it became the official WASP uniform. Neiman Marcus fashion coordinators from Dallas personally fitted each girl for her uniform before her class graduated from training. The Santiago blue dress uniform had a skirt and a fitted, belted jacket, with the AAF emblem on the left sleeve, the insignia of the Command in which the WASP served on the shoulder epaulets, the WASP emblem and the AAF propeller emblem on each lapel and her distinctive WASP silver wings worn above the left pocket. Underneath the jacket she wore a white shirt and a black tie. The beret, designed by Frederick’s Of Hollywood, had a three-quarter size officer’s shield pinned on the front. A fashionable black leather purse completed the WASP dress uniform.”
After the military shut down the WASP program, Cochran continued her military service by joining the U.S. Air Force Reserve as a Lieutenant Colonel. Before her retirement in 1969, she was promoted to the rank of Colonel. After the war, Jackie Cochran continued her conquest of the air. In 1947 and 1948, she set four world and U.S. aviation speed records. She moved up to new jet aircraft setting numerous records. On May 18, 1953, she became the first woman to break the sound barrier. Encouraged and mentored by her lifelong friend, Chuck Yeager, the first person to break the sound barrier. Cochran flew the Sabre 3 at Rogers Dry Lake in California when her plane went supersonic. Her record-setting continued when in 1961, flying a Northrop Talon supersonic trainer, she set two FAI world altitude records.
Of course, there is more. Jackie was the first woman to land and take off from an aircraft carrier. She became the first woman President of the famed Fédération aéronautique internationale-FAI from 1958-1961. She became the first woman to fly above 20,000 feet with an oxygen mask. In the early 1960s, she even flew the Goodyear Blimp.
20+ minute Legend of Aviation Jackie Cochran with General Chuck Yeager
With little formal education and pockets full of grit, Cochran is a legend in aviation and business in American history. She worked hard for her success. At her death in 1980, Jacqueline Cochran held more aviation records and awards than any other person.
(photograph Smithsonian Air and Space Museum)
On April 6, 1940, Jackie set a New World Speed Record on a 2,000 kilometer course at 331.716 mph. In June of 1941, she became the first female pilot to ferry a bomber across the North Atlantic and soon thereafter organized a group of twenty-five American women to ferry aircraft for Great Britain early in the War. By 1943 she was doing the same thing for her own country and was appointed to the U.S. Army Air Force General Staff. She directed all phases of the Women's Air Force Service Pilot's Program (WASP).
The Bendix Trophy Race resumed in 1946 and Jackie was entered once again. She finished second in a P-51B with a speed of 420.925 mph. In 1948 she flew her last Bendix, placing third in a P-51B with an average speed of 445.847 mph. In 1953, she became the first woman to exceed the speed of sound, flying a Canadian built F-86 Sabre Jet and received a Gold Medal from The Federation Aeronautique Internationale. From '58 to '59 she was the President of FAI, the only woman ever to hold that office and be re-elected for a second term.
In 1962, Jacqueline Cochran set sixty-nine intercity and straight line distance records for Lockheed in one of their Jet Stars and became the first woman to fly a jet aircraft across the Atlantic. She also set nine international speed, distance, and altitude records in a Northrop T-38 in that same year. Between April 12, 1963, and May 11, 1964, she set a series of records all in excess of 1,200 miles per hour in a Lockheed F-104G Starfighter.
Among Jacqueline Cochran's decorations and honors were the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Force Legion of Merit, and an enshrinement in the Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, in 1971, the first woman to have been so honored.
During their later years, she and her husband lived in the Coachella Valley of California. After her death, her home airport in Thermal, California (TRM) was named Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport in her honor.
Memorial at Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport (Wikipedia)
“I have found adventure in flying, in world travel, in business, and even close at hand…Adventure is a state of mind and spirit,” Jacqueline Cochran.
19+ minute Tribute from Edwards AirForce Base to Jackie Cochran and the WASP
This is popcorn-worthy viewing from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (about an hour) of their Amelia Earhart Trailblazing Aviation Women-Jacqueline Cochran
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so many talented and inspiring trailblazers
Terrific history. I was unaware. Thanks for filling the gap on our education about aviation legends.