VOICE ONE:
This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Faith Lapidus withEXPLORATIONS, in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about Americanpilot Jacqueline Cochran. During her time as a pilot, she set morespeed, distance and altitude records than any other pilot inaviation history.
VOICE ONE:
Jacqueline Cochran was known as Jackie. She said she was born inNineteen-Ten. She did not really know. Her parents died when she wasa baby. Another man and woman adopted her. They became her legalparents.
These people were very poor. They lived in several towns inFlorida and Georgia. Jackie went to school for just two years. Thenshe began work in a cotton factory. She was eight years old. Sheearned six cents an hour.
VOICE TWO:
Later, Jackie studied to be a nurse. But, she decided to be abeautician, a person who cuts and fixes other people’s hair. Shewent to a special school and worked in several beauty shops in theSouth. Then, she decided to move to New York City. There she workedin a very fine beauty shop. On a business trip, she met a wealthyfinancial expert, Floyd Odlum (ODE-lum). He urged Jackie to learn tofly. He also helped her establish what was to become a verysuccessful business.
Jackie had dreamed of selling her own beauty products. At thattime, the United States was in severe economic trouble, the GreatDepression. Floyd told Jackie it would be very difficult to sellenough beauty products to make her company successful. She wouldhave to sell them all across America. To cover the territory, hesaid, she would need wings. She thought it was a great idea.
VOICE ONE:
Years later, Jackie Cochran remembered how she talked with herfriends about learning to fly. They all warned her how difficult itwould be. She did not think so. So she went to Roosevelt Field onNew York’s Long Island to learn how.
After two-and-a-half weeks of lessons, she received her officialpilot’s license. She immediately flew to Montreal, Canada. The yearwas Nineteen-Thirty-Two. Three years later, she competed in theBendix Trophy Race from Los Angeles, California to Cleveland, Ohio.
The race was an important competition for both male and femalepilots. In her first try, Cochran had trouble with her plane. Shefailed to finish. Another young female pilot, Amelia Earhart,finished fifth.
VOICE TWO:
In Nineteen-Thirty-Six, Jackie and Floyd were married. Shecontinued to operate her company, Jacqueline Cochran Cosmetics. Andhe continued to support her flying activities.
In Nineteen-Thirty-Seven, Amelia Earhart attempted to fly aroundthe world. She disappeared during that flight. A group of femalepilots held a memorial ceremony to honor her. Jackie Cochran spokeat the ceremony. “We can mourn her loss,” Cochran said, “but notregret her effort. We will carry on her goals.”
VOICE ONE:
A month after Earhart was declared lost at sea, Cochran flewagain in the Bendix Trophy Race. She was the only female pilot. Shefinished in third place, ahead of several of America’s toughest malepilots.
The winner of that race flew a new kind of military plane. It wasdesigned by Alexander de Seversky. He had come to the United Statesfrom Russia. Seversky wanted to sell his new long-distance plane tothe United States Army Air Corps. He thought the army would noticehis plane if a female pilot flew it in a race and did well. So heasked Cochran to fly it in the next Bendix race. She acceptedimmediately.
VOICE TWO:
Seversky added extra fuelcontainers in the wings. He wanted to show that the plane could flylong distances without stopping. Cochran would be the first pilot touse the new system. Twenty-one pilots flew a test course before therace. Only ten completed it successfully — nine men and JackieCochran.
The race began in Burbank, California, in the middle of thenight. Forty-thousand people were there to watch. Seversky’s plane,with Cochran at the controls, speeded down the runway. Its silverwings and body shone in the lights around the airfield. The planelifted off the runway, climbed up and disappeared into the darkness.
VOICE ONE:
Another crowd was waiting in Cleveland, Ohio. They cheered as thefirst plane landed and crossed the finish line. It was the silverplane flown by Jackie Cochran. She had won the race. Cochran hadflown three-thousand-two-hundred-seventy kilometers in eight hoursand ten minutes. She had done it without stopping. But only she knewthere was enough fuel left to fly just a few more minutes.
Jackie Cochran won something else that year — recognition. Shereceived the Harmon Trophy, the highest award given to a pilot inAmerica. She would win the Harmon Trophy thirteen more times.
VOICE TWO:
The next year, Nineteen-Thirty-Nine, World War Two started inEurope. Cochran believed female pilots could help in the war effort.She thought they should be permitted to fly military transportplanes. In that way, she said, more male pilots would be free to flycombat planes.
In Nineteen-Forty, she tried to get the United States Army AirForce to support her idea. Cochran wrote to President FranklinRoosevelt’s wife, Eleanor. She said the real problem in wartime waslikely to be a lack of trained pilots. Many women, she noted,already were trained.
VOICE ONE:
Cochran received permission to go to England to observe femalepilots in the newly formed British Air Transport Auxiliary. Shestayed there several years.
By Nineteen-Forty-Three, the United States realized that it didneed more pilots. The commander of America’s Army Air Forces,General Henry Arnold, visited England. He asked Cochran to come homeand organize a program for female pilots. The group would be knownas the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs.
The group existed for two years. During that brief time, thewomen learned to fly seventy-seven kinds of military planes.One-thousand seventy-four women served as WASPs. They flew almostone-hundred-million kilometers. They were never officially part ofthe Army Air Forces. They were considered civilian employees.
VOICE TWO:
At the end of World War Two, the American government gave JackieCochran the Distinguished Service Medal for organizing the WASPs.She was the first civilian to receive the honor.After the war, sheworked with General Arnold. She helped write a bill that createdAmerica’s Air Force Reserve. She became the first female member. Shewas finally a member of the military.
VOICE ONE:
In the late Nineteen-Forties,Cochran started racing again. She set many more flying records. InNineteen-Fifty-Four, she entered the jet age. The Canadiangovernment agreed to let her test its new fighter plane. In it, shebecame the first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound.
In the early Nineteen-Sixties, she became a test pilot for theLockheed Company. She flew a fighter planetwo-thousand-two-hundred-eighty-six kilometers an hour. That wasmore than two times the speed of sound. It was the fastest speedever reached by a female pilot.
VOICE TWO:
Jackie Cochran sold her beauty products company inNineteen-Sixty-Four. She died of a heart attack in Nineteen-Eighty.At the time of her death, she held more speed, distance and altituderecords than any other pilot — man or woman — in aviation history.She had risen from a lowly beginning to the heights of business andflight.
Jackie Cochran is not as well known as some of the other greatpilots. One history expert said people respected her, but did notreally like her. She led the way for other female pilots. But shedid not seek their company as friends.
Jackie Cochran felt very much at home in the sky. She oncedescribed her feelings about flying. This is what she said:”Earth-bound souls know only that underside of the atmosphere inwhich they live. But go up higher, and the sky turns dark. High upenough, and one can see the stars at noon. I have. I have traveledwith the wind and the stars.”
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Marilyn Rice Christiano. It wasproduced by Mario Ritter. This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Faith Lapidus. Listen again next week for anotherEXPLORATIONS program in VOA Special English.