May 18, 1953, Jacqueline Cochran becomes the first women in history to fly a supersonic aircraft. Cochran flew her F-86 Sabre in excess of 625 miles per hour breaking the sound baarrier. Jacqueline Cochran was born in around 1912, she was born and raised as a orphan in Pensacola, Florida until her early teens at which time she moved to New York. In 1932, Jacqueline obtained her pilot's license at Roosevelt Field, Long Island, in a Fleet Trainer only after three weeks of training. Two years later, Jacqueline entered her first Bendix Transcontinental Air Race in 1935 flying a Northrop Gamma. However, Jacqueline had to drop out due to engine problems. In 1937, she again entered the Bendix Transcontinental Air Race in a Beech Staggerwing, a race from Los Angeles, California, to Cleveland, Ohio.

Jacqueline won first place with an average airspeed of just under 195 miles per hour. In 1938, Jacqueline again entered the Bendix Transcontinental Race and again won with an average airspeed of just under 250 miles per hour in her Seversky P-35.  Jacqueline had set three major course records: The Women's National Speed Record, The Women's World Speed Record and The New York To Miami Speed Record. As a result Jacqueline's performance, in 1938, she was awarded the prestigious Harmon Trophy as Outstanding Female Pilot of 1937.  Jacqueline went on to establish a Women's National Altitude Record in 1939, flying to an altitude of over 30,000 feet and setting an International Speed Record of just over 305 miles per hour.