Jacqueline Cochran was already the most decorated woman in aviation when she decided to chase the sound barrier. On May 18, 1953, at Edwards Air Force Base, she climbed into a Canadair F-86 Sabrejet, took off, and punched through Mach 1.06 with Chuck Yeager flying chase wing-to-wing. She became the first woman to break the sound barrier, doing so in a supersonic dive from high altitude. Cochran did not stumble into the record; she demanded it. After approaching General Vandenberg about flying the F-86, she was assigned to Yeager as her instructor. Within half a dozen flights, Yeager judged her ready. She dove from 45,000 feet, the Mach needle jumped, and two sonic booms rolled across the Mojave. She later bragged that she and Yeager were probably the first man-and-woman team to break Mach 1 together. By the time she died in 1979, Cochran held more speed, altitude, and distance records than any pilot alive—male or female.