Biographical Sketches

JACQULINE "JACKIE" COCHRAN

Born: May 11, 1906    In: Pensacola, FL
Died: August 9, 1980    In: Indio, CA

Jacqueline Cochran, born Bessie Lee Pittman, in Pensacola, was the youngest of the five children of Mary (Grant) and Ira Pittman, a skilled millwright who frequently relocated setting up and reworking sawmills. While her family was not wealthy, Cochran’s childhood living in small-town Florida was similar to those in other families of the era. Contrary to some accounts, there was always food on the table and she was not adopted, as she often claimed.

Circa 1920, (she would have been 13 or 14), she married Robert Cochran and gave birth to a son, Robert, who died in 1925 at the age of five. After the marriage ended, she kept the name Cochran and began using Jacqueline or Jackie as her given name. Cochran then became a hairdresser and got a job in Pensacola, eventually moving to New York City. There, she used her looks and driving personality to get a job at a prestigious salon at Saks Fifth Avenue.

Her most distinguished aviation career began in 1932 when she obtained her pilot’s license at Long Island’s Roosevelt Field with only three weeks of instruction. From that time, her life was one of total dedication to aviation. In 1935, Cochran became the first woman to enter the Bendix Trophy Race, but her Northrop Gamma was plagued with engine problems. She married millionaire Floyd Odlum, and in 1937 again entered the Bendix race in a Beechcraft 17, taking first place in the Women’s Division and third overall flying from Los Angeles to Cleveland, also winning the Harmon Trophy for Outstanding Female Pilot for that year. In 1938 she won the Bendix flying a Seversky P-35, becoming respected by all for her competitive spirit and high skill. Among her last flying activities was the establishment in 1964 of a record of 1,429mph in the F-104, prior to which she was the first woman to break the sound barrier, flying an F-86.

At the beginning of WW2, she became a Wing Commander in the British Auxiliary Transport Service, ferrying U.S.-built Hudson bombers to England, becoming the first female pilot to ferry a bomber across the Atlantic. At our entry into the war, she offered her services to the USAAC and formed the famed Women’s Air Force Service Pilots, and was appointed to the USAAF General Staff as director of the WASPs. This more than 1,000-strong group played a major role in delivering of aircraft to the combat areas throughout the world. For her service, Cochran was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and USAF Legion of Merit, and became the first civilian female to be commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the USAF Reserves. In 1958 she also became the first woman president of Federation Aeronautique International.

Some of the honors she has been accorded include the Harmon Trophy, the General William E Mitchell Award, Federation Aeronautique Gold Medal, and decorations from numerous countries.

Enshrined in National Aviation Hall of Fame 1971. Invested in International Aerospace Hall of Fame 1965.

REFERENCES:
Jackie Cochran; autobiography with Bucknum Brinley (Bantam. 1987)
The Stars at Noon; Jacqueline Cochran (Hale 1955)

Denotes an individual known to have soloed an aircraft prior to December 16, 1917, whether they were members of the "Early Birds of Aviation" Organization or not.