Unlike many of the other men and women in the hall of fame of flight, Jackie Cochran had no initial interest in it. When she got her first pilot’s license, in her early 20s, it was only to be able to meet customers for her own line of cosmetics. But after taking just a few lessons, she instantly fell in love with flight and began to divide her time between establishing her business and training for air races. The same year as founding her cosmetics company she entered the Bendix air race from Los Angeles to Cleveland, although mechanical problems forced her to drop out. From that point on, she focused more on flight, setting numerous records.

On this day, May 18, in 1953 Jackie Cochran, flying Sabrejet F-86 became the first woman to break the sound barrier. It was just one of many in her long list of accomplishments.

Before breaking the sound barrier, Cochran came back to win the Bendix race, and then started setting records for altitude and fastest flight times held by men and women alike. In WW II she persuaded the Air Force to train women for flight support — and before the end of the war the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots proved enormously useful. After the Mach 1 accomplishment, she set at least 11 more records as a test pilot for Northrop and Lockheed.