LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Jackie Cochran: Races
built 185 days ago
September 3, 1938……Famous aviatrix Jackie Cochran being escorted by airfield personnel at Floyd Bennett Field after she won the $30,000 Bendix Transcontinental Trophy Race. The Los Angeles to New York race, with a stop-over in Cleveland, was completed in 10 hours, 7 minutes. On the leg from L.A. to Cleveland, Cochran averaged a speed of 249.774mph---autographed. Photograph courtesy of E.K. and R.W.
Source:
Jackie Cochran was raised in poverty as a foster child in Florida. She managed to learn the beautician's trade and eventually to work at an exclusive salon in New York. Ambitious, aggressive, and fearless, she learned to fly as the result of a bet with a wealthy man who would later become her husband. With his support, she entered the cross-country Bendix air races, placing third in 1937 and winning in 1938.
Source:
After her brief job as a correspondent, Jackie started racing again. She flew in the 1946 Bendix race and placed second flying a war veteran, a P-51C Mustang. She flew from Los Angeles to Cleveland in just four hours, fifty-two minutes at a speed of 420.925 mph. What was even more amazing was that the Mustang just about fell apart from under her. Jackie flew several races with her aircraft developing mechanical problems but she always was able to work her airplane to perform to its best. Jackie was a “Doer!” She would always plan well and then do it! Jackie could think on her feet.
Source:
The race began in Burbank, California, in the middle of the night. Forty-thousand persons were there to watch. Seversky\'s plane, with Cochran at the controls, speeded down the runway. Its silver wings and body shone in the lights around the (21) airfield. The plane lifted off the runway, climbed up and disappeared into the darkness.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Races