Woman Aviator Jacqueline Cochran

Despite Mysterious Past, Jacqueline Cochran Took to the Skies

Aug 31, 2009 Penny White

One of the world's foremost women pilots, Jacqueline Cochran was the first woman to win the Bendix trophy and break the sound barrier.

Jacqueline Cochran knew what she wanted to be when she grew up. A woman aviator. Through hard work, perseverance, determination and a belief in herself above all else, Cochran achieved just that.

A Pioneer Among Women Aviators

Once she took a ride in an aircraft, Cochran knew she must take to the skies. She took flying lessons at Roosevelt Airfield in Long Island and learned to fly an airplane in less than three weeks of flight instruction. Within two years, she earned a commercial pilot's license.

A natural-born pilot, Cochran was the only woman to compete in the Bendix race in 1937. By 1938, she had won the Bendix and had set speed as well as altitude records (overall records).

Cochran is credited with many firsts: first woman to break the sound barrier, first woman to fly a jet across the ocean, first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic, first pilot to fly above 20,000 feet with an oxygen mask and the first woman to land and take off from an aircraft carrier. At the time of her death in 1980, Cochran held more speed, distance or altitude records than any other pilot.

Successful Beauty Products

Cochran spent some of her early years working as a beautician in Florida where she grew up. She later moved to New York City and obtained a job at a prestigious salon at Saks Fifth Avenue.

While working at the salon, Cochran met Floyd Bostwick Odlum, founder of Atlas Corp and CEO of RKO in Hollywood. Odlum helped Cochran start her own cosmetics company. Cochran flew around the country in her own aircraft to promote "Wings," her line of cosmetics. She and Odlum married in 1936. Odlum eventually procured Marilyn Monroe to endorse Cochran's line of lipstick.

Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII

As World War II waged in Europe, Cochran wrote a letter to Colonel Robert Olds, an organizer of the Ferrying Command, suggesting women pilots fly domestic noncombat missions to allow all male pilots to fly in the war effort. At Olds' request, Cochran gathered data about the number of women pilots in the United States, their skills, flying times and other pertinent information.

The information Cochran gathered was instrumental in convincing General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold that using women pilots in the United States was a good idea. Arnold commanded the US Army Air Forces during World War II. Prior to US entry into the war, Arnold suggested Cochran see how the British were doing with women pilots in the British Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). Cochran didn't hesitate and took 28 qualified women pilots along with her.

Cochran flew a bomber (a Lockheed Hudson V) across the Atlantic to Britain. There she, and the women pilots she had chosen, volunteered for the Royal Air Force working for the ATA.

Once the US entered the war, Cochran became director of the Women Airforce Service Pilots. More than one thousand women pilots trained in flight school at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas from 1942-1944. These women flew domestic missions to free up male pilots for the war effort.

Cochran received the Distinguished Service Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross for her organizational and training efforts of the WASPs.

After the WASPs

After the war was over, Cochran continued to be a trailblazer. She reported on postwar events for a magazine and witnessed the surrender of Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita. She was the first woman to enter Japan after the war and she attended the Nuremberg Trials in Germany. She joined the US Air Force Reserve in 1948 achieving he rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

In 1956, Cochran ran for Congress in the 29th Congressional District of California. She defeated five male opponents to win the Republication nomination, she lost the election to Democratic candidate Dalip Singh Saund. Although it was a close race (a difference of only 3%) Cochran never again attempted to run for office.

In the 1960s, Cochran supported the Mercury 13 program to test the ability and possibility of women astronauts. Ironically, many women exceeded the results of the male astronauts. However, for reasons unclarified, the program was cancelled and it would be several more decades before American women were sent into space.

Family History a Mystery

Cochran's beginnings remain a mystery. She was born in Muscogee, Florida but, from there, her childhood experiences seem to be in question.

In her autobiography, Stars at Noon, Cochran states she was orphaned at an early age and grew up dirt poor in foster homes. She went to work at eight years of age at a local cotton mill. When the mill went on strike, she worked sweeping the floor in a beauty salon.

At the age of 14, she moved to Montgomery, Alabama and worked as a permanent wave operator. Her landlady in Montgomery encouraged the young Cochran to pursue a career in nursing. She worked for three years in a hospital and worked for some time for a county doctor.

She worked as a beautician in Pensacola, Florida and eventually moved to New York City after which her flying career soon took off.

However, a number of people have come forward claiming to be relatives of Jacqueline Cochran and dispute this story. Allegedly, Cochran's true name was Bessie Pittman and she lived with her parents and sister, Mamie Pittman, in Florida. It is also stated [allegedly] that Cochran was married to Jack Cochran and they had a son who died in a fire. It was stated after this son's death that Cochran left for the east coast and made up her false past.

Once she moved to California, Cochran allegedly moved her sister, Mamie and her husband, Jesse Hydle, to a farm in Indio, California. Supposedly, Cochran's "made-up" story to Life magazine, published July 16, 1954, affected her sister, Mamie for the rest of her life, causing a near-nervous breakdown and bleeding ulcers.

Sources:

Stars at Noon, autobiography of Jacqueline Cochran, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, (1954, reissued 1979).

National Aviation Hall of Fame

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Jacqueline Cochran, pioneer woman aviator.	Bendix Trophy in National Air and Space Museum	Yeager with Cochran, breaking sound barrier.
Jacqueline Cochran Pioneer Pilot stamp issued 1996