The 1950s

On 18 May 1953 Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to fly faster than sound. The National Air and Space Museum says she did it in a borrowed Canadair F-86, because the military jets other people were using were not available to a civilian woman.

Chuck Yeager coached her. This is not his collection. Her name stays in the story. The chest is Mach 1 and the date.