New Documentary ‘The Flight of Jackie Cochran’ Highlights Legendary Aviator

When you ask the average person to name a famous woman pilot, odds are good that they will reply “Amelia Earhart.”

Earhart experienced a relatively short aviation career—a mere nine years before she disappeared while attempting to fly around the world.

Jaqueline “Jackie” Cochran, a contemporary of Earhart’s, enjoyed a career that spanned several decades and included setting records and shattering so-called glass ceilings, but she’s rarely remembered.

That may change with the release of The Flight of Jackie Cochran, a documentary about one of the most accomplished and complicated aviators in history. On Saturday, the film will be shown at the Museum of Flight in Seattle as part of the Wings of Courage national tour.

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Jessica Anderson directed the movie, which is based on a one-woman show by Nancy Hasty, a playwright and actress who acquired the rights to the book Superwoman Jacqueline Cochran by Beth Dees and Billie Pittman Ayers, who is a niece of Cochran’s. Hasty crafted the book into a riveting one-woman play, with excerpts from it being part of the documentary. 

Cochran, who died in 1980 at 74, was known as a strong-willed, determined, and persuasive woman as well as being exceptionally attractive and feminine, always checking her makeup at the end of a flight before exiting the cockpit. At the same time, she could be ruthless in her determination.

Hasty conveys that in her performance in the documentary as she talks about Cochran’s grit to make something of herself and her accomplishments as an aviator and a businesswoman.

The 3 p.m. PDT screening is free with admission to the Museum of Flight. Anderson and Hasty will be on location for a discussion following the movie.

About the Documentary

Based on historical records, interviews with family members, and Cochran’s statements, the documentary takes a deep dive into a complicated, self-made woman.

Born in 1906 as Bessie Lee Pittman in Muscogee, Florida, the film follows her complicated childhood and adolescence, leading to her decision to separate from her family and her past to the extent that she not only changed her name but also her origin story. When she became a famous pilot, she said she was an orphan, when in reality her family was still alive.

Her relationships with men are noted. When she was 14, she married Robert Cochran, who was significantly older than her. She kept his surname after they divorced. She first worked in the cosmetics industry in a beauty parlor then moved to New York to work the makeup counter at Saks Fifth Avenue. 

In 1932 she met billionaire Floyd Odlum. She talked to Odlum about her desire to start a cosmetics company of her own. He suggested that she become a pilot so she could travel more efficiently as she grew her new business.

She earned her pilot certificate in three weeks and would never hang up her wings. She became an accomplished air racer and aviation record setter, including the first woman to break the sound barrier.

However, Cochran is perhaps best known for being the driving force behind the creation of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs). She had powerful friends in high places, including military officers, presidents, and business leaders.

“But still very few people know who she was,” said Anderson. “Jackie Cochran is the most famous female pilot people have never heard of. People remember Earhart—she and Jackie were friends. People remember Earhart because she was lost, and people remember the dead and those who were lost.”

The documentary took approximately three and a half years to create and complete, according to Anderson. She said it also takes a look at the psyche of Cochran, who was known for being assertive, abrasive, and persuasive but often somewhat threatening to those around her not accustomed to a woman who brought so much energy and charisma into rooms that were, for the most part, dominated by men.

“We wanted to create something beyond what you can Google,” Anderson said.  “We wanted the good and the bad to get into why she did what she did and the forces that shaped her behavior, and why she changed her name and disowned her family publicly then privately supported them for so many years.”

Here’s the tour screening schedule:

Saturday: Museum of Flight, Seattle 

September 25: Mystic Film Festival, Mystic, Connecticut 

September 25: San Diego Air & Space Museum, California

September 26: Palm Springs Air Museum, California 

October 24: Golden Isles Film Festival, Brunswick, Georgia 

November 12: Turner Center for the Arts, Valdosta, Georgia