Gail said she would like that more than anything. But because of the baby, she still wanted to be close to her parents. Barbara didn't question that, but doubted it, knowing that Gail and her mother did not get along well. It had to be something else.
For some time, Barbara had come to believe her friend did not want to be half a country away from the cemetery where Paul slept. Several times when they would talk on the phone, and when they got together, Gail mentioned visiting his grave. Barbara began to worry that these frequent visitations might be unhealthy. It was not until then that she began to realize the depth of her friend's love for the man she also had loved.
All this made Barbara begin to worry about her friend's safety. If she could not get over her grief from Paul's death, might she do something drastic? She could not think Gail would take her own life. Surely she would not do that, because of the baby.
While Barbara wowed them at her Labor Day air show, Jackie Cochran won first place in the women's division of the Bendix Race and ranked third place overall. Soon after, she became the first woman to make a "blind" or instrument landing, in Pittsburgh. She was awarded the first of fifteen trophies she would receive over the years from the International League of Aviators as the out-standing woman flyer in the world.
The following year, as Barbara's airport became a bigger success than before, she took time out to attend the 1938 Bendix transcontinental race. She and Leila watched excitedly from the stands as Jackie Cochran took first place in the race.
But they couldn't congratulate her immediately because just after receiving her trophy, she climbed back into her plane. She flew to Bendix Airport in New Jersey to set a new women's west-to-east trans-continental record of 10 hours, 7 minutes, 10 seconds. When she got back to Cleveland on a commercial flight later that night, they celebrated with her.
Jackie Cochran's Bendix victory went almost unrecognized, however. The big aviation news of the year went to an obscure young male pilot who became famous overnight for flying the wrong way. In July, Douglas Corrigan had set out from New York saying he intended landing in California. Instead, he wound up in Ireland, saying his "compass must have been wrong."
The press dubbed him "Wrong Way" Corrigan, but many didn't believe his flight in the wrong direction had been an accident, The Wisconsin Liars' Club made him a lifetime member. Intentional or not, no race a woman could win that year could compete for attention with a stunt like Corrigan's. It even took attention away from Howard Hughes who just a week earlier had flown his plane around the world in three days, 19 hours.