1953: Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.

Cochran was already famous (as an aviatrix and racing pilot) and wealthy (through marriage) when she broke the sound barrier over Rogers Dry Lake, California, flying a Royal Canadian Air Force F-86 Sabrejet. In moving from subsonic to supersonic speed, Cochran averaged 652 mph.

Everything in Cochran’s life pointed to her being the logical woman to accomplish this feat. Born into poverty, she was nevertheless introduced to flying at an early age. She proved a natural, learning to fly with only three weeks’ training and earning a commercial pilot’s license before she was 30.

She flew in her first major race in 1934 and was the only to woman to compete in (and win) the Bendix race, a transcontinental, point-to-point sprint.

During World War II, Cochran helped deliver American-built planes to Britain and played an instrumental role in recruiting qualified women pilots into the Air Transport Command, the air-transport service of the Army Air Corps (predecessor of the U.S. Air Force).

Among her other aviation firsts: She was the first woman to take off from an aircraft carrier, the first woman to reach Mach 2, the first pilot to make a blind instrument landing and the first woman inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame.

Cochran died in 1980 at age 74.

Source: Wikipedia

Photo: Jackie Cochran standing on the wing of her F-86 whilst talking to Chuck Yeager and Canadair’s chief test pilot Bill Longhurst. (U.S. Air Force)

This article first appeared on Wired.com May 18, 2007.