Jacqueline Cochran was a pioneering American aviator who held more aviation records than any other pilot, male or female, at the time of her death in 1980. She was the first woman to complete a number of aviation feats, including competing in the 1937 Bendix race (which she won), flying a bomber across the Atlantic in 1941, and breaking the sound barrier in 1953. Cochran overcame humble beginnings, having been born in 1906 in Florida and originally working as a beautician before becoming a record-breaking pilot.

1. By:

2. A trophy-collecting contemporary of Amelia
Earhart often referred to the “Speed Queen,”
Jacqueline Cochran held more distance,
altitude and speed records than any other
pilot, male or female, at the time of her death
in 1980.
To start, Cochran was the only woman to
compete in the 1937 Bendix race and she
won, the first woman to fly a bomber across
the Atlantic (1941), the first female pilot to
break the sound barrier (1953), the first
woman to land and take off from an aircraft
carrier, the first female president of the
Federation Aeronautique International (1958-
1961) and the first pilot to fly above 20,000
feet without an oxygen mask.
Where to begin when describing the numerous
aviation feats of this one-time Saks Fifth
Avenue beautician born as Bessie Lee Pittman
in 1906 in Muscogee, Fla.?
Jacqueline Cochran

3. OnJuly18,1984,duringatranscontinentalPeopleExpress(ashort-lived
budgetairlinethatmergedwithContinentalin1987)flightfromNewark
toLosAngeles,Baltimore-bornBeverlyBurnswentdowninhistoryas
thefirstfemalepilottocommandaBoeing747.Thisgame-changingfeat
thatgarneredBurnstheAmeliaEarhartAwardthefollowingyear.
Inadditiontoherdutiesascaptain,Burns,anerstwhileAmerican
Airlinesflightattendant,alsoservedasabaggagehandler,gateagent,
dispatcherandavionicstrainerwhilewithPeopleExpress.Bythetime
sheretiredin2008,Burnshadloggedatotal25,000hoursofflighttime
andhadpilotednotonlytheBoeing747,butalsotheBoeing757,Boeing
767,Boeing777andavarietyofMcDonnell-Douglascommercialaircraft.
Thereasonshebecameacommercialairlinecaptaininthefirstplace?
Burnsrecounts,duringherflightattendantdays,afirstofficer
explainingtothecrewwhytherewerenofemalepilotsofcommercial
aircraft:"Hesaid,'Womenarejustnotsmartenoughtodothisjob.'I
knewassoonasthewordscameoutofhismouth—'womencannotbe
pilots'—thatIwantedtobeanairlinecaptainimmediately,"Burnstold
theBaltimoreSunin2002.

4. The worlds of aviation and space
exploration lost a legend when the
first American woman to fly in
space, Sally Ride, succumbed to
pancreatic cancer at the age of 61.
Ever since Ride went into orbit
aboard the Challenger in 1983, the
trailblazing astronaut has inspired
countless number of young women
to take flight and follow their
dreams by pursuing careers in
aviation and astronautics.
Interestingly enough, just days
before Ride’s death, veteran pilot
Liu Yang, 33, became the first
Chinese women to enter space

5. InMay1932,theKansas-bornrecord-breakerbecamethefirst
womantoflysolo,nonstop,acrosstheAtlanticOcean. In1937,
shedisappearedattheageof39undermysteriouscircumstances
inthecentralPacificwhilemakingaround-the-worldtrip.
Inadditiontoherfamoustransatlantic flight,Earhartbecame
thefirstwomantoflysolo,nonstop,acrosstheUnitedStates
fromLosAngelestoNewarkin1932.Earhartwasthefirstpilot,
maleorfemale,toflysolofromHawaiitotheU.S.mainland
(1935).Additionally,shewasthefirstpersontoflysolobetween
LosAngelesandMexicoCityandbetweenMexicoCityand
Newark(alsoin1935).Beforetakingcontrolinthecockpit
duringherfamouslong-haulsoloflightsin1932,Earhartwasthe
firstwomantoflyacrosstheAtlanticOceanasapassenger
(1928).
Aprolificauthorandessayist,Earhartservedasaneditorof
Cosmopolitanmagazinefrom1928to1930.

6. Although she may have disappointed herparents by not
going into the family trade of toilet de-clogging, this Paris-
born daughter of a plumber wenton to change history in
1910 as the first woman to receivea pilot’s license. Under
the tutelage of aviation expert Charles Voisin, the feisty
actress-turned-aviatrix took tothe sky numerous times and,
despite herdecidedly plebian lineage, earnedherself the
title of baroness in the process.
DeLaroche, also an accomplished balloonist and engineer,
cheated death on morethan oneoccasion. In 1910, de
Laroche’s aircraft crashed at an airshow in Reims, France,
and shesuffered injuries so severethat she was grounded
for two years. In 1912, she was onceagain injured in a car
crash that claimed the life.