Jerrie Cobb
Encyclopedia
Norman, Oklahoma
Norman is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is located south of downtown Oklahoma City. It is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, Norman was to have 110,925 full-time residents, making it the third-largest city in Oklahoma and the...
is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
aviator. She was also part of the "Mercury 13
Mercury 13
Mercury 13 refers to thirteen American women who, as part of a privately funded program, underwent some of the same physiological screening tests as the astronauts selected by NASA on April 9, 1959 for Project Mercury...
," a group of women who underwent some of the same physiological screening tests as the original Mercury Seven
Mercury Seven
Mercury Seven was the group of seven Mercury astronauts selected by NASA on April 9, 1959. They are also referred to as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1...
astronauts as part of a private, non-NASA program.
Early life
Cobb is the daughter of Lt. Col. William H. Cobb and Helena Butler Stone Cobb. As a child growing up in Oklahoma, Cobb took to aviationAviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
at an early age, with her pilot father's encouragement. Cobb first flew in a plane at age twelve, in her father's open cockpit
Cockpit
A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft. Most modern cockpits are enclosed, except on some small aircraft, and cockpits on large airliners are also physically separated from the cabin...
1936 Waco
Waco Aircraft Company
The Waco Aircraft Company was an aircraft manufacturer located in Troy, Ohio, USA. Between 1919 and 1947, the company produced a wide range of civilian biplanes....
biplane
Biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two superimposed main wings. The Wright brothers' Wright Flyer used a biplane design, as did most aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage, it produces more drag than a similar monoplane wing...
. At 16, she was barnstorming
Barnstorming
Barnstorming was a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s in which stunt pilots would perform tricks with airplanes, either individually or in groups called a flying circus. Barnstorming was the first major form of civil aviation in the history of flight...
around the Great Plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
in a Piper J-3 Cub, dropping leaflets over little towns announcing the arrival of circuses. Sleeping under the Cub's wing at night helped scrape together money for fuel to practice her flying by giving rides. By the age of 17, while a student at Oklahoma City Classen High School, Cobb had earned her private pilot's license. She received her commercial pilots license a year later.
Record-setting career
By age 19, Cobb was teaching men to fly. At 21, she was delivering military fighters and four-engine bombers to foreign Air Forces worldwide. Cobb had a three-year romance with airplane delivery business owner and veteran World War II pilot Jack Ford, whom she met in Miami, FL while working at a maintenace hangar. They were engaged for two years, but the relationship ended tragically with the explosion of his airplane over the Pacific.Facing sexual discrimination and the return of many qualified male pilots after World War II, she had to take on less sought after jobs, such as patrolling pipelines and crop dusting. Regardless, she went on to earn her Multi-Engine, Instrument
Instrument Rating in the United States
An Instrument Rating is required for a pilot to fly under instrument flight rules .In the U.S., the rating is issued by the FAA.-Instrument rating standards:To be eligible to pursue an Instrument Rating, the applicant must:...
, Flight Instructor
Flight instructor
A flight instructor is a person who teaches others to fly aircraft. Specific privileges granted to holders of a flight instructor qualification vary from country to country, but very generally, a flight instructor serves to enhance or evaluate the knowledge and skill level of an aviator in pursuit...
, and Ground Instructor
Ground Instructor
Ground Instructor is a certificate issued in the United States by the Federal Aviation Administration; the rules for certification, and for certificate-holders, are detailed in Subpart I of Part 61 of the Federal Aviation Regulations, which are part of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations...
ratings as well as her Airline Transport license.
Cobb went on to set new world records for speed, distance, and absolute altitude while still in her twenties. When she became the first woman to fly in the world's largest air exposition, the Salon Aeronautique Internacional in Paris, her fellow airmen then named her Pilot of the Year and awarded her the Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean...
Gold Medal of Achievement. Life Magazine named her one of the nine women of the "100 most important young people in the United States."
To save for money to buy a surplus World War II Fairchild PT-23, and a chance to be self-employed, Cobb played women's softball on a semi-professional team, the Oklahoma City Queens.
By 1959 (age 28) she was a pilot and manager for Aero Design and Engineering Company, which also made the Aero Commander aircraft she used in her record making feats, and was one of the few women executives in aviation. by 1960, she had 7,000 hours of flying time and held 3 world aviation records: the 1959 world record for nonstop long-distance flight, the 1959 world light plane speed record, and a 1960 world altitude record for lightweight aircraft of 37,010 ft. In May 1961, NASA Administrator James Webb
James Webb
James Webb, Jim Webb or Jimmy Webb may refer to:Public service*James B. Webb, known as J. B. Webb , influential in shaping Australia's international relations and aid during the 1950s, 60s and 70s*James E...
appointed Cobb as a consultant to the NASA space program.
Medical Testing
Although she successfully completed all three stages of physical and psychological evaluation that were used in choosing the first seven Mercury astronauts, this was not an official NASANASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
program and she was unable to rally support in Congress for adding women to the astronaut program based solely on their gender. At the time, Cobb had flown 64 types of propeller aircraft, but had made only one flight, in the back seat, of a jet fighter. She had also set world records for speed, distance and absolute altitude.
In 1963, Cobb was called to testify at a Congressional
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
hearing about women astronauts. Astronaut John Glenn
John Glenn
John Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...
states at the hearing "men go off and fight the wars and fly the airplanes," and women are not astronauts because of our social order. Only a few months later, the Soviet Union would send the first woman into space.
Cobb argued, along with other Mercury 13 participants, to be allowed to train alongside the men. However, at the time NASA requirements for entry into the astronaut program were that a pilot be a military test pilot, experienced at high speed military test flying, and have an engineering background enabling the pilot to take over controls in the event it became necessary. An exception was not made for Cobb. Executive Assistant to Vice President Lyndon Johnson, Liz Carpenter, drafted a letter to NASA administrator James E. Webb
James E. Webb
James Edwin Webb was an American government official who served as the second administrator of NASA from February 14, 1961 to October 7, 1968....
questioning these requirements, but Johnson did not send the letter, instead writing across it, "Let's stop this now!"
Later life
Cobb then began over 30 years of missionary work in South AmericaSouth America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, performing humanitarian flying, i.e., transporting supplies to indigenous tribes, and surveying new air routes to remote areas. Cobb has been honored by the Brazilian, Colombian, Ecuadorian, French, and Peruvian governments. In 1981 she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
for her humanitarian work.
In 1999, Cobb was the subject of a National Organization for Women
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S...
campaign to send her to space (like Senator John Glenn
John Glenn
John Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...
) to investigate the effects of aging. The effort was unsuccessful.
She has received numerous aviation honors, including the Harmon Trophy
Harmon Trophy
The Harmon Trophy is a set of three international trophies, to be awarded annually to the world's outstanding aviator, aviatrix , and aeronaut...
and the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale's Gold Wings Award.
Awards
- Amelia Earhart Gold Medal of Achievement
- Named Woman of the YearWoman of the YearWoman of the Year is a romantic comedy film. The movie is about an emancipated woman, chosen "Woman of the Year", and her colleague-turned-husband and their efforts to negotiate a path to marital bliss....
in Aviation - Amelia Earhart Memorial Award {cn}
- Named Pilot of the Year by the National Pilots Association
- Fourth American to be awarded Gold Wings of the Fédération Aéronautique InternationaleFédération Aéronautique InternationaleThe Fédération Aéronautique Internationale is the world governing body for air sports and aeronautics and astronautics world records. Its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. This includes man-carrying aerospace vehicles from balloons to spacecraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles...
, Paris, France - Named Captain of Achievement by International Academy of Achievement
- Served five years as a consultant to the Federal Aviation AdministrationFederal Aviation AdministrationThe Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
- Honored by the government of Ecuador for pioneering new air routes over the Andes Mountains and Andes jungle
- 1973 Awarded Harmon International Trophy for "The Worlds Best Woman Pilot" by President Richard NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
at a White HouseWhite HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
ceremony. - Inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of FameOklahoma Hall of FameThe Oklahoma Hall of Fame was established in 1927 by Anna B. Korn. To be eligible for induction, an individual must satisfy the following criteria:* Reside in Oklahoma or be a former resident of the state....
as "the Most Outstanding Aviatrix in the US - Received Pioneer Woman Award for her "courageous frontier spirit" flying all over the Amazon jungle serving primitive Indian tribes
- 1979 Bishop Wright Air Industry Award for her "humanitarian contributions to modern aviation".
- 2000 Inducted into "Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame".
- 2007 Honorary Doctor of ScienceDoctor of ScienceDoctor of Science , usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D. or Dr.Sc., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries Doctor of Science is the name used for the standard doctorate in the sciences, elsewhere the Sc.D...
degree from University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh.
External links
- Lovelace's Woman In Space Accessed March 31, 2007.
- Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Cobb, Geraldyn M. "Jerrie"
- The Jerrie Cobb Foundation, Inc jerrie-cobb.org