Home > World War II > Jacqueline Cochran Biography

Born c. 1906
Muskogee, Florida
Died August 9, 1980
Indio, California
American pilot

Jacqueline Cochran overcame a difficult childhood to achieve many of the goals she set for herself. She was already an experienced, fearless pilot who had set many flying records when the United States entered World War II (December 7, 1941), and she quickly saw a way in which women could help the war effort. Cochran suggested that the U.S. government set up an organization of women pilots to perform various noncombat duties, an experiment that was already working well in Great Britain. Thus the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) were born, and Cochran became their director in August 1943. Although the program was canceled in 1944 and its members left with no veterans benefits and little recognition, Cochran and other female pilots had demonstrated both women's eagerness to serve their country and...