A moment in aviation history: Jackie Cochran

Each parade season we like to connect what cadets learn to the wider world of flight.

Jackie Cochran was one of the most accomplished pilots of the twentieth century. During the Second World War she led the Women Airforce Service Pilots, the first women trained to fly American military aircraft. In 1953 she became the first woman to break the sound barrier, flying a Canadair-built F-86 Sabre with Chuck Yeager as her chase pilot. Over her career she set more speed, altitude, and distance records than any other pilot of her era.

Stories like hers are part of why aviation history is woven through the cadet program, from the Sabre’s place in the Royal Canadian Air Force to the principles of flight cadets study at every level, and a reminder that leadership in the air takes many forms.