World's Record in a Jet
JACQUELINE COCHRAN is the first woman to pass through the sonic barrier to beat the speed of sound. Already the holder of most of the men’s world speed records for propeller-driven planes, she made three new world’s records for men in jet planes during the summer of 1953. A waif who at the age of eight was working a twelve-hour shift in a cotton mill, Miss Cochran is today the owner of three cosmetic firms. She was the recipient of the Billy Mitchell Award for 1937, has won the International Harmon Trophy for most of the years since 1937, and for her accomplishments in jet flying received in Turkey last month the Cold Medal of the f ederation Aéronautique Internationale. She is in private life a wonderful cook, a delightful hostess, and the wife of Floyd B. Odlum. Her autobiography, Stars at Noon, from which this chapter has been taken, will be published this month under the Atlantic-Little. Brown imprint.