The Fastest Woman Alive

by Karen Vuranch

American pilot and business executive Jackie Cochran was called the Speed Queen and was one of the most prominent pilots in American aviation history. At the time of her death in 1980, no other pilot – living or dead, male or female – held more speed, distance or altitude records. Working with other women pilots such as her friend Amelia Earhart, she opened up speed races, including the McRobertson Air Race and the Bendix Air Race, to women, eventually winning the Bendix. By 1938, she was considered the best female pilot in America, setting transcontinental speed records and altitude records. She was also the first woman to break the sound barrier, just six years after her good friend Chuck Yeager. Cochran was born to an impoverished family in Florida. But she was able to work herself up from a job as a hairdresser to that of owning a prestigious cosmetics company and was considered to be one of the outstanding business women in America, with AP naming her Business Woman of the Year in 1953 and 1954. It was while she was establishing her cosmetics company that she went up in a plane with a friend and was smitten with flying. She took lessons and quickly earned her pilot’s license. Calling her line of cosmetics Wings to Beauty, she flew her own aircraft around the country promoting her products.

One of her most important contributions was to the field of aviation with her work during World War II. In 1939, she wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt and proposed a women’s flying division of the Army Air Forces. This led to the creation of the WASP – Women Airforce Service Pilots – an agency for which Cochran would serve as Director throughout the war; 1,100 women eventually served in the WASP and Cochran supervised their training. The WASP program ferried newly built planes to the war front, tested new planes, and assisted with air gunner training. This program blazed a trail for women to serve equally in the U.S. Air Force.

Cochran remained active after the war. As a magazine reporter, she witnessed the Japanese surrender in the Philippines and attended the Nuremburg trials in Germany. In 1948, she joined the U.S. Air Force Reserve as a Lt. Colonel and was eventually promoted to Colonel. She earned three awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross while serving in the Air Force.

In the 1960s, Cochran was the sponsor of the Women in Space Program, popularly known as Mercury 13. This was an effort of NASA to assess the ability of women to be astronauts. This program has been in the news again recently when one of its participants, Wally Funk, flew into outer space with Jeff Bezos, making her the oldest astronaut to go into outer space.

Jackie Cochran was a wealthy woman. Throughout her life, she continually supported charitable causes and political campaigns. She remains one of the most important women in American aviation history, earning numerous awards and honors. She holds a significant number of records in the aviation world. Perhaps the title of the stage play written by Karen Sunde about Jackie Cochran sums up her memory – The Fastest Woman Alive.

Daytime Programs

Teen and Adult Workshop: Fly Girls: Women Pilots of WWII

Wednesday, July 12, 2023 at 2:30 p.m.

Ashland Public Library

About 1,100 young women flew military aircraft during World War II as part of a program called Women Airforce Service Pilots –WASP. These women, all civilian volunteers, flew almost every type of military aircraft as part of the WASP program. They ferried new planes long distances from factories to military bases and departure points across the country. They tested newly overhauled planes and towed targets to give ground and air gunners training shooting – with live ammunition. This workshop will explore some of the stories of these remarkable women.

Adult Workshop: Women of NASA

Friday, July 14, 2023 at 1 p.m.

Mill Run Place

Since the 1950’s, America has been sending astronauts to space. As a nation, we watch space orbits and moon landings with fascination. Although the early astronauts were men, over the years many women have been a part of the space program. They served as engineers, technicians and specialists in many fields. But in 1983, Sally Ride became the first woman astronaut. Since then, many women have been on space missions. This workshop will explore the contributions of all women to the NASA program.

About Karen Vuranch

Karen Vuranch is a storyteller, actress, historian and writer from West Virginia. Karen also recreates historical figures, many of whom she has presented at earlier Ashland Chautauqua events, such as Pearl Buck, Clara Barton, Julia Child, Louella Parsons, and Edith Wharton. Karen is also a traditional storyteller. She has presented workshops on the techniques of storytelling and how to collect oral history. Although retired from Concord University, where she directed the Theatre Department, she still teaches as an adjunct professor. She graduated from Ashland University in Theatre and Sociology and has a master’s degree in Humanities from Marshall University.

OPENING ACT: STEVE BROWN JAZZ TRIO

The Steve Brown Jazz Trio consists of Steve Brown on piano, Paul Martin on bass and Steve Berry on drums. The group plays together only occasionally, but the three musicians have had lots of experience performing together and with other groups. stevebrownsmusic.com

Cochran Bibliography

Ackmann, Martha. The Mercury Thirteen: The True story of Thirteen Women and Their Dream of Space. New York: Random House, 2004. Cochran, Jackie and Marilyn Bucknum Brinley. Jackie Cochran: An Autobiography. New York: Bantam, 1987.

Cochran, Jackie and Chuck Yeager. The Stars at Noon. New York: Little Brown, 1954.

Dailey, R.J. Goodbye Glamour Girls: The True Story of American Women Pilots in WWII. Self-published, 2004, revised 2017.

Granger, Byrd Howell. On Final Approach: The Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII. Scottsdale, AZ: Falconer Publishing, 1991

Rich, Doris. Jackie Cochran: Pilot in the Fastest Lane. Gainesville: Florida University Press, 2010.

Landdeck, Katherine Sharp. The Women With Silver Wings: The Inspiring True Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of WWII. New York: Crown, 2020.

Smith-Daughtery, Rhonda. Jackie Cochran: Biography of a Pioneer Aviator. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2012

Teitel, Amy Shira. Fighting for Space: Two Pilots and Their Historic Battle for Female Spaceflght. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2020.

DVD: Jackie Cochran: First Lady of Flight. Directed by Dr. Elliott Haimhoff. Starring Suzy Amis-Cameron and Chuck Yeager, 2014.

Aviator Heroes: A Wing and a Race, 2010.

PauliMurray faced challenges repeatedly – her entire life. She did not go looking for them. They found her. And when they found her, she took them head-on. Equipped with intelligence, a gift for words, and a fierce determination to make things right, Pauli sat down at her typewriter and confronted the status quo.

Murray was raised in the Jim Crow South, in the town of Durham, NC. The African-American population of Durham was growing in numbers, and in terms of social and economic prosperity. Yet African-Americans remained second-class citizens, limited by the racism of Jim Crow. Murray’s goal was to get away and never come back.

When Murray finished high school, she applied to Hunter College in New York City. Murray had to do another year of high school before she could