Superwoman Jacqueline Cochran
Family Memories About the Famous Pilot, Patriot, Wife & Businesswoman
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Jackie watched the daylight fade in front of her even though it was just after noon. On the 21st of May, 1953 the stars came into view as she piloted the F-86 Canadian-built Sabre Jet away from earth into the thinning atmosphere. The serene dark blue skyscape was lost to the pilot as she focused on the spinning dials, red and green glowing dots and fast flowing numbers on the instrument panel in front of her. Outside the temperature was frosty. Inside Jackie sweated in her anti-gravity suit, customized to fit her female contours. About eight and a half miles above ground, she pushed the joystick forward. Within seconds her jet gently nosed over. She put it through a split "S" maneuver to begin the almost vertical, full power dive back towards the target of earth. Easing back the joystick, Jackie let all 12,000 of the engine's horses build to a full run. It didn’t matter the altimeter needle was spinning too fast to read; Jackie’s eyes were on the Mach meter. It was Mach 1 she was after. Mach 1--the speed of sound. "I counted the changes in the Mach Meter aloud over my microphone so Chuck Yeager could hear me in his plane," she recounted later. Major Yeager was one of Jackie’s closest friends and six years earlier had been the first man in the world to fly faster than the speed of sound. Jackie intended to be the first woman. She saw herself as a female Daniel Boone of the air, going ever faster, higher and farther in her explorations of it. She considered breaking the sonic barrier an inevitable personal goal. A dream she meant to make happen. * * * Fog began rolling in off the Atlantic just before her 3 a.m. take-off time. The plane ahead of Jackie’s disappeared into the thick gray mist. There was an explosion. The plane crashed just beyond the end of the runway, killing the pilot. Feeling sick, Jackie waited while the wreckage was cleared. A race official walked up and tried to talk her out of flying, arguing the fog and her heavy fuel load made it too dangerous. Everyone was nervous and, again, the Northrop officials asked her to reconsider dropping out of the race. She quietly called Floyd. Although he must have been concerned for her safety, he didn’t tell her what to do. Instead, he told her, "There is a fine line between a course of action based on logic, and one to satisfy an emotional urge, and that no one could draw that line for another." They hung up. Bypassing her logic, she decided to satisfy that emotional urge and she climbed up in her plane and took off. After all that preparation and traumatic decision-making, she didn’t even get to finish the race. But she did start it. At daybreak, she landed in Kingman, Arizona. Asked what happened, she made no excuses. She didn’t say complain about the problems with the airplane. She said flat out she just got tired and quit. Looking back on that race, she said she felt if she had failed to start in that race, she’s not sure she would have ever raced again.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
General Chuck Yeager, first to fly faster than sound, said of his friend Jacqueline Cochran, the first woman to do so, "She was one of the few people I knew who actually surpassed all of their wildest dreams." Arguably the world’s greatest female pilot, Jackie’s career is well known and in Superwoman, her family reveals new information about her life. Born in 1906, Bessie Pittman, who changed her name to Jacqueline Cochran, was the youngest in a big family struggling to make ends meet. Rebelling against her environment and family’s humble way of life, she escaped to New York City. Publicly she claimed she was an orphan but privately she claimed our family. When she became wealthy she rented a train car bringing us cross-country to live nearby. Jackie’s dinner party guest list included U.S. presidents, movie stars, scientists and pilots. Amelia Earhart shared Jackie’s passion for flying and an interest in ESP. During WWII, Jackie organized the Women's Air Force Service Pilots and later she set more records than any pilot, male or female. Jackie’s niece, Billie Pittman Ayers said, before dying of a stroke in 1999, "You might have heard of my Aunt Jackie’s accomplishments in aviation. Some of her adventures and exploits will be told here. We feel our family memories will reveal another facet of a complex woman who flew to the top and beyond."
About the Author
As a teenager in her hometown of DeFuniak Springs, Florida, Beth Dees first heard stories from old timers about a local woman, Bessie Pittman, who had changed her name to Jackie Cochran and become famous internationally, primarily as a pilot. She was struck by the disparities between the local’s stories and the woman’s autobiography. Dees reported for daily newspapers for years after earning her journalism degree from Auburn University in Alabama and later worked in public relations for resorts and an electric utility. Publishing her first news article in 1976, she began freelancing full-time in 1997. Twenty-three years later, she writes full-time for magazines, web sites, commercial clients and non-profit organizations. In 1998, she published a non-fiction book on Christmas collectibles. In 1994, Dees met Billie Pittman Ayers, who explained her family had wanted to write about Bessie Pittman/Jacqueline Cochran since around 1980. Mrs. Ayers spent years helping Dees with the research, writing and gathering information from other family members about her aunt. Sadly on August 15, 1999 Mrs. Ayers died from a stroke. It was her wish this story be published to help historians or others interested in Jackie’s life. She also felt it was important to "Set the record straight," for the family.