"I am the author of (...) "Jackie Cochran, The Autobiography of the Greatest Woman Pilot in Aviation History". (...)I am a writer, interviewer and editor with experience producing award-winning magazines (both online and in print), books, articles, annual reports, website copy and marketing materials for corporate, non-profit, and academic institutions."
- Maryann Brinley quote from her website
Maryann Bucknum Brinley | Credit to
Ms. Brinley's website
02/10/20
"Dear Anna, (...) To answer your questions…
Jackie had more than one unique character trait that helped her break so many records. She was fearless and incredibly determined to succeed at whatever task she approached. She would never take "No, you can’t do that" for an answer! She was also physically strong and had a special kind courage even in the face of disaster. Her social skills were superb…especially when it involved her dealings with powerful men. Women, on the other hand, would find her self-centered and sometimes obnoxious. But to her close female friends, she was a hero and would do anything for them. She was always making fried chicken to take to a friend in need!
If I had to choose an idol for her, I think it might be Amelia Earhart…but she also loved President Dwight Eisenhower and President Lyndon Johnson…and her husband Floyd Odlum, a rich financier who made his fortune on Wall Street but later became an invalid. I don’t have a favorite quote but I do remember that she once told her friend, Maggie Miller: “The first thing they teach you in training is to keep calm in a crisis.” And this ability to stay calm was also key to her record setting and her success in the air.
I don’t know of any favorite songs or music, but she did know how to have a good time with friends and fellow pilots. And she preferred the company of the male pilots to the women.
“Jackie Cochran: An Autobiography” by
Maryann Brinley book cover | Personal book copy
Personally, I’m not sure that Jackie Cochran was easy to love. But I came away from this book project with awe about what this poor girl from Florida was able to accomplish…and mostly on her own, at least in the beginning of her life. I also think Jackie Cochran was an incredible hero and character in American history and I feel sad to think that not enough people, especially women and young girls like yourself, know about her. I stumbled upon her when I was a young mother and I decided to write a book which would allow me to work from home and not commute into New York City where I had been a magazine editor for Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping and McCall’s magazines. At the time, I read every book on the bestseller list and one of them was about Chuck Yeager, Jackie’s good friend. In his book, Yeager described this amazing Jackie Cochran and that’s when I set off to sell my idea and pursue her story. At the time of her death, Jackie held more speed, altitude and distance records than any other pilot, male or female, in aviation history, Her career spanned 40 years from the Golden Age of the 1930s as a racing pilot, through the turbulent years of World War II as founder and head of the Women’s Air Force Service Pilot (WASP) program, into the jet age, where she became the first female pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound…as you highlight on your webpage! Why hasn’t history been kinder to her? Maybe because she was a woman? And a woman who might be described in today’s world, as pushy? But if you want to succeed at your dreams, I think that’s what we women have to do…to push ahead and to persist!
(...) Good luck!
Maryann Brinley"
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