June 3, 1964, Jacqueline Cochran becomes the first women in history to fly an aircraft twice the speed of sound. Cochran flew her Lockheed F-104C Starfight 1,429 miles per hour during her flight. In 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 barrier.

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.

Designed as a supersonic superiority fighter, the F-104 was produced in two major versions. Armed with a six-barrel M-61 20mm Vulcan cannon it served as a tactical fighter and, equipped additionally with heat-seeking Sidewinder missiles, as a day-night interceptor. Development of the F-104 began in 1952 and the first XF-104 made its initial flight in 1954. On May 18, 1958, an F-104A set a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph, and on December 14, 1959, an F-104C set a world altitude record of 103,395 feet. The Starfighter was the first aircraft to hold simultaneous official world records for speed, altitude and time-to-climb.  The USAF procured about 300 Starfighters in one- and two-seat versions. In addition, more than 1,700 F-104s were built in the U.S. and abroad under the military aid program for various nations including Canada, West Germany,  Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Turkey, Spain, Taiwan and Japan.