born 1910?, Pensacola, Fla., U.S.
died Aug. 9, 1980, Indio, Calif.
U.S. aviator.
Orphaned early and reared in poverty, she had learned to fly by 1932, partly to promote the products of the cosmetics company she had founded. In 1938 she set a speed record for women flying across North America. In World War II she trained women transport pilots in the British and later the U.S. Air Force auxiliaries. In 1953 she broke the world speed record (for both men and women) in a jet, and in 1961 she became the first woman to fly at twice the speed of sound.