Amelia Earhart became the face of women aviation pioneers, but she was not the greatest aviatrix. That was Jacqueline Cochran. Here are some interesting facts about this remarkable woman.
- She was born on May 11, 1906 to a father who ran sawmills. Although it was not a bleak existence, she later claimed that she was an orphan. But she kept in contact with her family and cared for them. She married at age 13 or 14, but it did not last.
- She met Floyd Odium who was one of the ten richest men in America. Odium, who was 14 years older, became her biggest fan and supported her financially. She started a cosmetics business which he suggested naming “Wings of Beauty”. He used his Hollywood connections to get Marilyn Monroe to endorse her lipstick. The couple later married.
- After getting her first plane ride from a friend, she was hooked and learned to fly in three weeks. She was 22. She excelled and began to enter races, which were a big thing in the 1930’s. She set many speed records and became known as the “Speed Queen”. She also set altitude records. By 1938, she was acknowledged as the best woman pilot in the world. She won the Harmon Trophy for best female pilot 14 times.
- Before U.S. entry into WWI, she helped Great Britain. As part of the “Wings for Britain” program, she became the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic. She worked for the British Air Transport Auxiliary, recruiting and training American women to fly noncombat missions.
- When the U.S. entered the war, Cochran helped create the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) to ferry bombers to Britain. She was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest non-combat award.
- She was a longtime friend of Chuck Yeager. He helped arrange for her to be the first woman to break the sound barrier in 1953. She was 48 years old.
- Some of her other achievements:
– first woman to take off and land on an aircraft carrier
– first woman to fly a jet across the Atlantic
– first woman to make an instrument (“blind”) landing
– first woman to fly above 20,000 feet with an oxygen mask
– first woman to fly Mach 2 (at age 58)
- At the time of her death in 1980, she held more distance, altitude, and speed records than any other woman. Or man.
- She was enshrined in the Aviation Hall of Fame in 1971. She was the first woman.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Cochran
https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/jacqueline-cochran/
https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/women-in-aviation/cochran.cfm
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