 You guys know I like to do museum tours when I am traveling from time to time, but since nobody's going anywhere for the foreseeable future I thought it would be a good opportunity to revisit a past museum tour I did a couple of years ago. Stuff that I recorded and still haven't shared with you guys. Hello everyone and welcome to The Vintage Space. If you're a regular viewer, welcome back. If any of you out there have read my new book, Fighting for Space, or if you've heard me talk about it anywhere, you'll know that I'm mildly obsessed with Jackie Cochran, the main aviatrix in the book. If you haven't heard of her, here's the Coles notes. Born in Florida in 1906, she had an exceedingly complicated childhood that she hid during her lifetime under cover of her orphan origin story. She moved to New York City as a beautician in 1929 and three years later on a bet with her new beau, Floyd Odom, learned to fly. She got her license in three weeks and within weeks was making headlines. She left the beauty industry to fly full-time and she racked up awards and firsts, including first woman to fly faster than sound in 1953. When she died in 1980, she held more speed, distance, and altitude records than any other pilot, male or female. On past visits to the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, I've stepped closely to the space displays. I mean, they've got Apollo 11, Gemini 4, Friendship 7, a full Apollo Soyuz mock-up of V2 next to a Skylab mock-up. There's so much, but that last trip about two and a half years ago was all about aviation and there's so much good stuff. But getting more and more into Jackie's story, I decided last time I was there to track down some of the trophies with her name on them because her stunning career came with a lot of hardware. Honestly, I'd intended to do this as a teaser before the book came out, but things kind of got away from me. So let's go on a mini Air and Space Museum tour of Jackie's hardware now. And just a heads up, this was before I got the fancy new iPhone I used to record these videos in 4K and 60fps. Not to mention, cases are very reflective, so pardon the quality. The Bendix Trophy was an exciting one for Jackie, so it was an exciting one for me to find. In the 1930s, the Bendix Transcontinental Air Race was THE national air race. Sponsored by Vincent Bendix, it was a race from Burbank, California to Cleveland, Ohio that sought to pioneer new developments in aviation, meaning pilots flying in the race had to show their medal against experimental planes. It was traditionally an all-male race, so of course Jackie, who never wanted to be the best female pilot, but the best pilot, full stop, fought to open it to women. Her efforts, along with Amelia Earhart and a handful of other petitioning women pilots, were successful, and in 1935 it became a mixed race, though the women were judged in a separate category. Jackie didn't like that, but she flew nonetheless. She was forced to withdraw that year, the full story is in Fighting for Space, but that didn't deter her, winning the Bendix became her white whale. She entered again in 1937, the lone female entrant this time. Though she didn't win, she did win the women's division by default, which she wasn't thrilled about. I can tell she wasn't thrilled because she never talked about it at length in any interviews and left it out of her memoirs. If she didn't want to be the standout woman, she definitely wouldn't have been overly thrilled over winning a trophy for being the lone woman in a race. So after winning this trophy, she was still in hot pursuit of the big prize, the actual Bendix trophy. She sunk a ton of energy and money into the 1938 race, getting her hands on a revolutionary Seversky P35. This plane had two novel features, retractable landing gear to make the plane more aerodynamic in flight, and fuel tanks in the wings so it could fly further on a full load. Jackie knew these two features would give her a serious edge in the race, so arranged with Seversky to get herself a brand new plane just for the Bendix. The race was an exciting one. She'd worked out all the details of a perfect flight for fuel efficiency and speed, and figured she'd need to fly at about 16,000 feet at a nearly full throttle to get the most from her engine. But that's higher than humans can survive. Cockpits weren't pressurized in 1938, so she borrowed a system invented by Dr. Randy Lovelace, her good friend, a personal oxygen system that would let her breathe safely at altitude. So she takes off and gets up to altitude and finds she's flying through a storm, but she can't afford to go around it, so she flies through it. As she goes through the storm, she finds that her right wing tank isn't draining, and it's weighing her down, and switching between wing and belly tanks isn't helping. So she starts flying in a zigzag pattern. She flies with her right wing raised forcibly during that tank, then levels out to get back on her flight path. It was a sometimes harrowing flight, but she made it. She won the Bendix, and here she is shaking hands with Vincent Bendix after landing in Cleveland. Also after landing, she got right back in the plane and flew to New York City to add a women's cross-country speed record to the day's achievements. The trophy itself shows two figures, a globe, and a plane. It's made of brass and painted gold, which is why now it's all tarnished and green. Here's what it used to look like. Jackie entered the Bendix again in 1946 and carried this signed stamp cover with her, which I now own. Up next is the Harman Trophy, named for and established by balloonist and aviator Clifford B. Harman. It was awarded annually for most outstanding international achievements in the Arts or Science of Aeronautics. When the award was first given, there were four. Aviator, Aviatrix, Aeronaut, and a national award given to the outstanding flyer in each of the 21 member countries. The national award wasn't given after 1949, and in 1967, a new category for astronaut was created. Jackie won this one a lot. She won the national award in 1937, making it the first big trophy win of her career. She won the international Aviatrix award in 1938, 1939, 1940 to 1949, the war and post-war decade was taken as one. 1953, the year she broke the sound barrier, and 1954 and again in 1961. Here she is with President Truman after getting the 1953 award, and I love this picture of her kissing Floyd after that ceremony. Up front, that's Chuck Yeager, who had taught her how to fly a jet supersonically and also won the Aviator award himself that year. The Collier Trophy is an interesting one. The award was established by Robert J. Collier, publisher of Collier's Weekly Magazine, who was also a pioneer in air sports and president of the Aero Club of America. After debuting as a trophy on behalf of the Aero Club of America, it was then given annually by the U.S. National Aeronautics Association to the one who made, quote, the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency and safety of air or space vehicles, the value of which has been thoroughly demonstrated by actual use during the preceding year. The first recipient in 1911 was Glenn Curtis for his development of the Curtis Model E hydro airplane. So that gives you an idea of the kind of developments needed to earn this award. Jackie never won this one, but she was on the selection committee for the 1939 award. Remember that oxygen mask she used to fly above 16,000 feet on her Bendix winning flight? She campaigned hard to have the 1939 award go to its makers, Dr. Walter Boothby, Dr. Randy Lovelace, and Harry Armstrong. And she was successful. This is, of course, the event that solidified Jackie's friendship with Randy Lovelace, which becomes important on the issue of women in space when Randy led the medical testing of women. But I digress, and you can read it all right here. Clifford W. Henderson was, among other things, a driving force behind the development of the Los Angeles International Airport, as well as managing director of the National Air Races from 1928 to 1939. The trophy was originally presented to the outstanding pilot at the National Air Races, but the trophy was re-established in 1960 as one awarded to, quote, a living individual, a group of individuals, or an organization whose vision, leadership, or skill made a significant and lasting contribution to the promotion and advancement of aviation and aerospace in the United States. Jackie won this one in 1963. The year she established a Fédération Aeronautique Internationale World Speed Record and a Lockheed TF-104G Starfighter on a closed 100-kilometer circuit with an average speed of 1,203 miles per hour. These are just the three I was able to find on that trip. Jackie had a lot more hardware as evidenced in this picture of her Manhattan foyer sometime in the early to mid-1940s, judging by her age. And, of course, not everything in that collection is necessarily a big one. Her trophies came in all kinds, including this one from her husband, Floyd, a silver cup inscribed to supersonic Jackie from Floyd. So that's it. I just wanted to share some of my air and space trip with you guys and highlight some of Jackie's really interesting achievements and the neat pictures I've amassed over the years. Jackie's nearly full story is in Fighting for Space. There's a link in the description below. And, of course, I've got some more content about and inspired by her coming up down the line. Thanks for hanging out with me today. I want to say a special thank you to my Patreon and YouTube members for helping make the vintage space possible. If you want to join my support network and have access to my Discord, there are a couple of links to help you out below. And, of course, all my social links as well. See you guys next time.