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Happy Birthday to Jackie Cochran, born #onthisday in 1906 in Muscogee, Florida. After taking her first flying lessons in 1932, she obtained her pilot's license in just three weeks. In 1935, she became the first woman to enter the Bendix Transcontinental Air Race. Though, she did not win initially, she won the 1938 Bendix Trophy. Before America’s entry into World War II, she trained women pilots for war transport service in England. In 1941, Cochran suggested that female pilots could support the war effort with non-combat aircraft ferrying missions, and in 1943, helped form the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) and became its director. In 1953, she became the first woman to break the sound barrier in a North American F-86 Sabre. Setting one record was not enough for Cochran, and she went on to break several more records, including an altitude record in 1961 and a women’s world speed record in 1964. In addition to her flying career, she also owned and operated her own cosmetics company, Jacqueline Cochran Cosmetics. Image: Pioneer Aviators Postage Stamps, Jacqueline Cochran,1996, Gift of John Zukowsky. 2000.054.079 This image was posted on May 11, 2018.

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Happy Birthday to Jackie Cochran, born #onthisday in 1906 in Muscogee, Florida. This image was posted on May 11, 2020. #jackiecochran #womeninaviation #aviatrix #avgeek #museumfromhome

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