After earning a business degree from Ohio State University in 1935, Cochran enlisted as a pilot in the Army Air Corps because "it looked like a good way to make an easy living.

[7] Although a fighter pilot, Cochran flew the lead C-47 on Christmas Eve 1942, airdropping paratroopers of the 509th Infantry Regiment to destroy the El Djem Bridge in Tunisia.

French ground forces, for whom Phil's squadron was flying air support, were mauled by army units under the command of General Erwin Rommel.

[8] Cochran, by now a lieutenant colonel, and John R. Alison (former deputy commander of the 75th Fighter Squadron) were picked by General Hap Arnold as co-commanders of the 1st USAAF Air Commando Group.

)[10] The 1st Air Commando, among other missions, was assigned the task of supporting Allied Long Range Penetration Groups, of the British Army's Chindits, invading Japanese-held Burma.

[11] Upon witnessing one of these demonstrations, the Allied theater commander, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten exclaimed, "Jesus Christ All Bloody Mighty!

[12] In particular, the news Cochran would make light planes and gliders (snatched from the ground by low-flying C-47s) available to evacuate wounded men from combat greatly-increased the morale of the long-range jungle penetration forces.

One Brit commander summed the change: 1st Air Commando was also called upon to perform ground support missions for the Long Range brigades, including bombing and strafing attacks.

In one incident, the group's P-51 Mustangs failed to down a single telephone line on wooden poles using bombs, the P-51's used a daring tactic: "The lead plane swooped and banked...his lower wing tip ripped momentarily across an open space in the jungle, perhaps three feet above the ground...the second plane swerved...straight at us out of the land in a tight turn, wing tip brushing the ground...[We saw] telephone wire hanging around in festoons at the edge of the jungle.

"[14] Cochran was director of aerial scenes in the Howard Hughes film Jet Pilot starring John Wayne and Janet Leigh.