Born into poverty and raised by a foster family Jacqueline Cochran (then Bessie Pittman) worked at the cotton mill when she was six, her twelve-hour shift paid .36 cents. As she grew, she took many odd jobs by making false claims of her knowledge and skill, she said it was “not so much a lie, as a matter of survival”.
Jackie was working selling cosmetics in 1932 when she experienced her first airplane ride. After three weeks of lessons she soloed and earned her pilot license at Roosevelt Airfield, LI. Within two years Jackie was a licensed commercial pilot.
In 1936 Jackie married Floyd B. Odlum, one of the ten richest men in the world and CEO of RKO pictures, Hollywood. Odlum had a gift for finance and marketing, he recognized the value of publicity for her cosmetics line “Wings”. Jackie flew her plane around the country promoting the products, while Odlum used his Hollywood connections to get Marilyn Monroe to endorse her line of lipsticks.
She was the only woman to compete for the Bendix Trophy in 1937. That year, she also set a new woman’s national speed record. She was friend of Amelia Earhart, but did not encourage her to attempt the around the world flight that led to her friends disappearance that year.
In 1938 Jackie was considered the best female pilot in America. She won the Bendix Race and set a new transcontinental speed and altitude record. She won five Harmon Trophies, as the most outstanding woman pilot in the world, and earned the nickname “Speed Queen”. She was one of the most gifted racing pilots of her generation and a friend to Chuck Yeager and other racing legends.
Jacqueline Cochran was a pioneer for women aviators. She worked with other women to women to create service organizations like the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) and Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP). She hoped to “free a man to fight” by proposing women fly military aircraft. In 1943, Cochran was appointed director of the WASP’s with Nancy Love as head of the ferrying division. For her war efforts, she received the Distinguished Service Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross. Jackie was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1971.
She died at her home in Indio, CA in 1980. At the time of her death, no other pilot male or female, held more speed, distance or altitude records in aviation history. Even today she still holds more distance and speed records than any other pilot.
