WASP 2000 Sweetwater Texas: Jacqueline Cochran Remembered Page: 2 of 20
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Highlights OF JACQUELINE COCHRAN'S CAREER
(Appendix extracted from book, Jackie Cochran.
Maryann Bucknum Brinley
1932 - Earns her first pilot's license.
1934 - Enters the MacRobertson London-to-Australia race.
1935 - Jacqueline Cochran Cosmetics begins manufacturing and Jackie enters her first Bendix race.
May 11, 1936 - Married to Floyd Bostwick Odlum in Kingman, Arizona.
1937 - Wins first place in women's division of Bendix and third place overall; becomes first woman to make blind landing, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; is
awarded her first of 15 Clifford Burke Harmon International Trophies of the International League of Aviators as the outstanding woman flyer in the world.
1938 - Takes first place in Bendix transcontinental; receives the General William E. Mitchell Memorial Award as the person making the greatest contribu-
tion to aviation that year.
March 24, 1939 - Establishes a women's national altitude record, and in September 1939 breaks the international open-class speed record for men and
women. She wins the William J. McGough Memorial Award from Air Service Post 501; the American Legion honors her with its award; New York Mayor
Fiorello H. LaGuardia presents his trophy for winning the New York-to-Miami Air Race in '39.
April 1940 - Breaks the 2,000 kilometer international speed record the 100 kilometer national record; wins the Minneapolis Aquatennial Air Classic Award
as the outstanding woman pilot and receives her third of four trophies from the Women's National Aeronautical Association as the outstanding woman
pilot for '38, '39, '40 and by the next year, '41.
June 1941 - First woman to pilot a bomber across the North Atlantic; organizes a group of twenty-five American women to fly for Great Britain in the war effort.
1941 to 1943 - President of 99s, an organization of women aviators founded in 1929.
September 11, 1942 - Appointed director of women's flying training for the United States.
July 1943 - Appointed to the general staff of the U.S. Army Air Forces; directed all phases of Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) Program.
1945 - Receives the United States Distinguished Service Medal; travels to the Far East as correspondent for L/be/ty magazine; first American woman to
enter Japan after World War II.
After the war, Jackie continued to participate in air races and to establish new transcontinental and international records. She still holds more interna-
tional speed, distance, and altitude records than any other pilot.
1949 - Decorated in France with the Legion of Honor.
1951 - Receives the French Air Medal as well as the Lady Drummond-Hay Trophy; other foreign decorations include Wings of Air medals from Belgium,
Spain, Thailand, Turkey, pre-communist Rumania. She is voted one of the 25 outstanding businesswomen in America by the Boston Chamber of Commerce.
1953 - Flying a Canadian-built Sabrejet F-86, she is the first woman to exceed the sound barrier; receives the Gold Medal from the Federation Aeronautique Intemationale,
the only woman ever to have eamed this award. Her book The Stars at Noon is published and merits the annual book award from the Secondary Education Board of
Boston. She is called "Woman of the Year Business" by the Associated Press poll of newspaper editors for the first time. She wins that title again in '54.
1954 - Is offered the Frank M. Hawks Memorial Award of Air Service Post 501, American Legion.
1955 - National Association of Manufacturers gives her their Golden Fleece Award. She receives honorary degrees from Russell Sage College, Elmira
College, and later from Northland College.
1957 - Receives the Air Force Association Award for distinguished civilian service, the only woman to have been so honored. The United States Air
Force has already cited her in '49 and '51 for recruiting service, and she continues in '57 to hold rank of command pilot in Civil Air Patrol. Also in 1957,
she travels to Nicaragua as personal ambassador to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
1958-59 - President of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, the only woman ever to hold that office and to be reelected for the 1960-61 term.
1962 - Chairman of the National Aeronautic Association.
1962 - Establishes 69 intercity and straight-line distance records for Lockheed in a Jet Star; first woman to fly a jet airplane across the Atlantic. Also in
'62, Jackie sets 9 international speed, distance, and altitude records in a Northrop T-38 military jet aircraft.
April 12, 1963 - Sets 15-25 kilometer course record in Lockheed F-104 Starfighter - 1,273.109 mph.
May 1, 1963 - Breaks 100 kilometer course record with a speed of 1,203.686 mph.
May 11, 1964 - Begins resetting her own records in Lockheed's F-104G Starfighter: for 15-25 kilometer course, a record of 1,429.297 mph; for 100
kilometer course, 1,302 mph; for 500 kilometer course, 1,135 mph.
September 16, 1965 - Presented with Pionierkette Winderose decoration by German government.
May 1969 - Awarded Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters by Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force.
May 31, 1970 - Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Notre Dame College, Manchester, New Hampshire.
June 16, 1970 - Presented with Legion of Merit by Secretary of the Air Force.
September 18, 1971 - Named Honorary Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.
December 17, 1971 - Enshrined in the Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio; the first living woman to have been so honored.
Other titles, significant dates, and honors:
Director - Storer Broadcasting Company.
Member - Board of Councilors, University of Southern California, Institute of Safety and Systems Management.
Director - Air Force Academy Foundation.
Trustee - Air Force Museum Foundation.
Vice-President - Air Force Historical Foundation.
Board of Trustees - Donald Douglas Museum and Library.
Member - Honorary Board of Directors of the American Hall of Aviation History of Northrop Institute of Technology.
Permanent Trustee - International Women's Air and Space Museum.
September 10, 1975 - First woman to be honored at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, by having her memorabilia
dedicated as a permanent display in Arnold Hall.
1975 - Private papers donated to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas.
August 9, 1980 - Jackie dies at her home in Indio, California.
November 6, 1980 - Memorial service for her is held at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
October 1993 - Inducted into National Women's Hall of Fame, Seneca Falls, New York.* Photo Collage on Front Cover of Program
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Women Airforce Service Pilots (U.S.). WASP 2000 Sweetwater Texas: Jacqueline Cochran Remembered, pamphlet, 2000; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1009893/m1/2/?q=music: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting National WASP WWII Museum.