Jacqueline Cochran

Jacqueline Cochran. World War II. Ms. Cochran was an American pilot who held more speed, distance, and altitude records than any other flyer during her career. Ms. Cochran took her first flying lesson in 1932, and got her pilot's license in three weeks. She soon mastered the technical aspects of aviation and navigation., In 1935 Cochran became the first woman to enter the Bendix Transcontinental Air Race, which she won in 1938. In June 1941, as a flight captain in the British Air Transport Auxiliary, she trained a group of female pilots for war transport service. Upon her return to the United States, she undertook a similar program for the Army Air Forces. She was named director of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) in July 1943. In 1945 she became the first woman civilian to be awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, and in 1948 was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve. , In 1953, Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier piloting an F-86 Sabre. She set world speed records for 15-, 100-, and 500km courses. Cochran continued to break her old records and set new ones, including an altitude mark of 55,253 feet in 1961, and the standing women's world speed record of 1,429 miles per hour in an F-104G Super Star jet in 1964. She retired from the reserves as a colonel in 1970. She continued as a special National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) consultant after her retirement. , From 1959 to 1963, Ms. Cochran served as the first woman president of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. She was inducted into the International Aerospace Hall of Fame in 1965 and the U.S. Aviation Hall of Fame in 1971.