Jacqueline Cochran

"One day, I got a call to come into General Arnold's office. He said, "What do you know about the B-26?" I said, "I don’t know a thing except the scuttlebutt that it’s a so-called hot airplane." The men were saying that they were willing to be killed in war, but they wouldn't fly the B-26. ... I flew the plane and didn't see any thing so difficult about it. I came back and said to General Arnold, "I can cure your men of walking off the program. Let's put on the girls.""

"Earthbound souls know only the underside of the atmosphere in which they live. But go up higher — above the dust and water vapor — and the sky turns dark until one can see the stars at noon."

"To live without risk for me would be tantamount to death."