Pioneering Pilot Jackie Cochran #542: Roscoe Turner Papers
Jackie Cochran was a pioneering pilot. She learned to fly in the early 1930s in New York. In 1938 she made national headlines when she won the Bendix Trophy, beating out a field of male competitors by twenty-three minutes. The Bendix transcontinental aeronautical race was known for its difficulty. Cochran took home $9000 in prize money. She was hailed as the United States’ best female pilot.
At the beginning of World War II, she had the distinction of being the first female American pilot to ferry bombers from the United States to England. Later in the war, she headed a unit of 25 American women pilots who were sent to Britain to fly with the British Air Transport Auxiliary. Cochran was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for her leadership in the military.
In 1953, she became the first female pilot to make a supersonic flight. Cochran set many other speed, altitude, and distance records.
Discover more about Jackie Cochran in the Roscoe Turner papers at UW’s American Heritage Center