Cover; Table of Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. The Making of Jacqueline Cochran; 2. The Lady Is a Pilot; 3. America's Number One Woman Flier; 4. An Unusual Life; 5. Women in War; 6. Jacqueline Cochran and the WASPs; 7. The WASP Experience; 8. The End of the WASPs; 9. High Flying; 10. Postscript; Appendix One: Biographical Sketches; General Henry Harley Arnold, USAF, General of the Air Force, 1886-1950; Vincent Hugo Bendix, Automotive and Aviation Pioneer, 1882-1945; Amelia Earhart, Aviatrix, 1897-1937. and Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby, U.S. Army, Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC)-- Women's Army Corps (WAC), 1905-1995Nancy Harkness Love, Aviatrix and founder of the Women's Auxiliary Ferry Squadron, 1914-1976; General of the Army George Catlett Marshall, U.S. Army, 1880-1959; Floyd Odlum, Husband of Jacqueline Cochran, 1892-1976; Alexander Nikolaivich Prokofieff de Seversky, Aeronautical Engineer, 1894-1974; Lieutenant General Barton Kyle Yount, USAF, 1884-1949; Appendix Two: Major Aircraft Flown by Jacqueline Cochran; Chapter Notes; Bibliography; Index.
Summary
Although Amelia Earhart remains the best-known female pilot of the 1930s, Jacqueline Cochran stood as the more important aviation pioneer and America's top woman pilot. Among her many accomplishments, Cochran was the first female aviator to win the Bendix Air Race, to fly a bomber, to break the speed of sound, and to participate in astronaut training. This revealing biography explores Cochran's childhood in an impoverished Florida mill town, her early career as a pilot, and her role in creating and leading the WASPs during World War II. It also chronicles her postwar exploits, including her pa.
