ASPJ

-First woman to break the sound barrier.

-First Woman to enter the Bendix Race, 1935.

-Won 14 Harmon Trophies in her lifetime.

-Set altitude record of 33,000 feet, 1939.

-First female trans-Atlantic bomber pilot, 1941.

-Supervised the Women's Air Force Service Pilots (WASP),1942-44.

-Served as an advisor to the US Air Force, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) during the '50s and '60s.

-Set world speed record 'of 1,429 MPH, 1964.

Jackie Cochran was born in Florida into a life of Poverty, somewhere between 1905 and 1908. She had almost no formal education and since

She was orphaned at birth, she had to depend on foster parents. By the age of 22 she was working at a prestigious beauty salon and was at the top of her profession. With money saved, she developed a fine of cosmetics, which would later become her empire, Jacqueline Cochran Cosmetics. Her husband to be, millionaire businessman Floyd Odlum, suggested she learn to fly in order to use her travel and sales time more efficiently. In two days she soloed and 18 days later had her pilots license. Despite her lack of education, she mastered flying in mere weeks. Jackie soon bought her first airplane, a Travelair. She was the first woman to enter the Bendix Race in 1935.

Jackie was hooked on flying and her taste for record setting was strong. She set three speed records, won the Clifford Burke Harmon trophy three times, and set a world altitude record of 33,000 feet—all before 1940. With World War II on the horizon, Jackie talked Eleanor Roosevelt (who, like Jackie, had been friendly with Amelia Earhart) into the necessity of women pilots in the coming war effort. It was probably no small coincidence that Jackie was soon recruiting women pilots to ferry planes for the British Ferry Command, and became the first female trans-Atlantic bomber pilot,

In 1942 Jackie recruited over one thousand WASPs and supervised their training and service until they were disbanded in 1944. She didn't stop there. Jackie went on to be a press correspondent and was present at the surrender of Japanese General Yamashita, was the first US woman to set foot in Japan after the war, went on to China, Russia, Germany, and even the Nuremburg trials. Flying was still her passion, and with the onset of the jet age, there were new planes to fly and records to break! And she did both. Access to jet aircraft was mainly restricted to military personnel, but Jackie had enough connections to get where she wanted to be. With the assistance of her friend Gen Chuck Yeager, Jackie became the first woman to break the sound barrier in an F-86 Sabre Jet, and went on to set a world speed record of 1,429 MPH in 1964. Jacqueline Cochran broke the sound barrier when she was well over 50 years old. After heart problems and a pacemaker stopped her fast-flying activities at the age of 70, Jackie took up soaring. At the time of her death in 1980 she held literally hundreds of speed and altitude records-more than anyone else in the world, male or female.

Declaración de responsabilidad:

Las ideas y opiniones expresadas en este artículo reflejan la opinión exclusiva del autor elaboradas y basadas en el ambiente académico de libertad de expresión de la Universidad del Aire. Por ningún motivo reflejan la posición oficial del Gobierno de los Estados Unidos de América o sus dependencias, el Departamento de Defensa, la Fuerza Aérea de los Estados Unidos o la Universidad del Aire. El contenido de este artículo ha sido revisado en cuanto a su seguridad y directriz y ha sido aprobado para la difusión pública según lo estipulado en la directiva AFI 35-101 de la Fuerza Aérea.

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