Jacqueline “Jackie” Cochran built one of the most extensive record-flying careers of the twentieth century and became a central organizer of women pilots during World War II.
She learned to fly in the early 1930s and quickly moved into racing and record attempts. By the late 1930s she was competing in major events and setting women’s speed records in high-performance aircraft.
As war approached, Cochran argued that trained women pilots could release male pilots for combat. In 1941 she selected American women to fly with Britain’s Air Transport Auxiliary.
In 1942 she organized the Women’s Flying Training Detachment. In 1943 it merged with Nancy Love’s Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron to form the Women Airforce Service Pilots, with Cochran as director.
WASP pilots ferried aircraft, towed targets, tested airplanes and performed other domestic military flying as civilians. Their service was dangerous and was not granted military veteran status until decades later.
After the war Cochran continued record flying in jets. In May 1953, flying a Canadair F-86 Sabre with support from Chuck Yeager, she became the first woman to exceed the speed of sound.
Her record rivalry with French pilot Jacqueline Auriol pushed both women toward faster jet aircraft through the 1950s and 1960s.
TransitSatellite should distinguish Cochran’s personal records from WASP collective service. Her leadership mattered, but thousands of women’s wartime flights cannot be collapsed into one biography.