Oh I remember without looking at your URL Hagar......I seem to remember her for her exploits in an F-104 and doing Mach 2, I believe ?...Jacquie Cochrane........
I would be disappointed had you not remembered this legendary pilot. I fully expected you & some of the older members here to know of her accomplishments or at least heard her name.
However, I hope you & the others did bother to check out my link. It's very interesting. Here's a quote from the introduction.
Jacqueline Cochran Odlum is a legend in aviation history. There are few, if any aviators who have accomplished so much or set and held as many aviation records. Yet, if you ask anyone to name a famous aviatrix, nine times out of ten he or she will name Amelia Earhart.
Jackie who? They retort as one proceeds to describe an aviation legend. Major General Fred J. Ascani said of Jackie's ability "There are cautious pilots who never want to know what the plane's maximum performance is and then there are pilots like Yeager & Cochran".
PS. While on the subject of female pioneers it would be impossible to leave out Hanna Reitsch. Whatever we might think of her political beliefs she was an extremely courageous woman & an outstanding pilot.
http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/reitsch.html
As the world's first female test pilot and helicopter pilot, Hanna flew everyting the Third Reich had: from the first helicopter (the Focke-Achgelis) to the prototype of a piloted V-1. She went on to set more than 40 altitude and endurance records in motorless and powered aircraft in her lifetime.
