Jacqueline Cochran, born in 1906 and died in 1980, learned to fly in 1932 and became a pioneering woman pilot, record setter, WASP leader, and Ninety-Nine. She was a 15-time winner of the Harmon Trophy for outstanding female pilot of the year and received numerous other awards and honors in addition to trophies for her flying skills. She became the first female pilot to break the sound barrier in an F-86, and she set a speed record of 1,429 miles per hour, faster than Mach 2, in a Lockheed Starfighter. During World War II she founded and headed the Women's Airforce Service Pilot Program. A long time resident of the Coachella Valley, she joined Winifred Wood, Mary Nelson, Margaret Eceles, and Claire Mc Millen in beginning the Coachella Valley Chapter of Ninety-Nines, which was designated a chapter of the Southwestern Section of Ninety-Nines on November 1, 1949.