FAI General Aviation Commission (GAC)

Mary de Klerk had established a career as a dancer and seamstress before a “life-changing” encounter navigated her towards embarking on her pilot’s license and a subsequent career in sports flying, in which she gained many titles before retiring after her bronze medal at the 22nd FAI World Rally Flying Championships. 

Jacqueline Cochran was already a highly decorated pilot with numerous speed records to her name when she slid into the cockpit on 18 May 1953 ready for another record attempt.

The aircraft was a Canadian-built F-86 Sabre Mk, loaned to Cochran by the Canadian Air Force. Her goal was a speed record, over a distance of 100km above Rogers Dry Lake, California, USA.

In her autobiography, published in 1987* the famous American pilot recalled her challenge: