James "Jabby" Jabara (October 10, 1923 - November
17, 1966) was the first American jet ace in history. Jabara is
credited with 15 victories over
MiG-15 jets in Korea, one below the
tally of
Joseph C. McConnell, although Jabara's 1.5
victories in World War II bring his career total to 16.5 victories.
He was the second-highest-scoring U.S.
ace of the
Korean
War.
Early life
Jabara was
born in Muskogee,
Oklahoma
. He was of Lebanese American descent; his parents
came from Marjayoun
, Lebanon
.
He
graduated from Wichita North
High School in Wichita, Kansas
, in May 1942. At five feet, five
inches (165 cm) tall, he was short for a potential fighter
pilot (and reportedly required to wear corrective eyewear) but this
did not prevent him from immediately enlisting as an Aviation Cadet
at Fort
Riley
, Kansas
.
After
attending four flying schools in Texas, he received his pilot's
wings and a commission as Second Lieutenant in October 1943, at
Moore
Field
, Texas
.
World War II
During
World War II, Jabara flew two
tours of combat duty in Europe as a
P-51
Mustang pilot, the first with the 363rd Fighter Group of the
Ninth Air Force from January to
October 1944, and the second with the
355th Group of the
Eighth Air Force from February to December
1945. During his European combat, and known then as “the Ceegar
Kid,” (for his penchant to smoke cigars) he flew 108 combat
missions and was credited with the destruction of one-and-a-half
enemy planes in aerial combat and four on the ground.
After
World War II, Jabara attended the Tactical Air School at Tyndall Air
Force Base
, Florida
, and from
1947 to 1949 was stationed on Okinawa
with the
53rd Fighter Group. Jabara returned to the United States and was
assigned as a flight commander, now at the rank of captain, with
the 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing,
flying the newly operational F-86 Sabre
jet fighter at the New Castle (Delaware
) County Airport.
Korean War
Jabara arrived in Korea on December 13, 1950 with the 4th
Fighter-Interceptor Wing, which was the first F-86 unit deployed to
the
Fifth Air Force to counter the
threat by the Soviet MiG-15. By January 2, 1951, he had flown five
combat missions in F-86s and had damaged one
MiG-15 enemy jet fighter in air
combat.
He achieved his first confirmed "kill" on April 3, 1951. He was
credited with another on April 10, a third on April 12, a fourth on
April 22 and his fifth and sixth on May 20, making him the first
American jet
ace in History. All his
victories were against
MiG-15s. The May 20
mission was his sixty-third Korean mission of an eventual 163; he
was to have two other two years when he was to claim the shootdown
two planes and would become a triple ace.
He won a
Distinguished
Service Cross for his heroics that day (the nation's second
highest decoration), but he would later add a
silver star and
oak
leaf cluster to that for repeat performances. Against his
wishes, he received a stateside leave for a publicity tour. The
family Jabara grocery store on Murdock Street in Wichita was
thronged with people for days and both he and his father John
Jabara would appear on local and national radio and television.
Wichita would mount one of its most-attended parades in the city's
history. Jabara was even sent on a good-will tour of his father's
homeland and gave a speech in his father's hometown of Marjayoun.
Films of
his plane in Korea were on every movie newsreel, and he had offers to spend a week in
Hollywood
and a week in South
America all expenses paid. The Cigar Institute of
America sent him a case of cigars and his wife Nina received
promotional packages with cigarette lighters and perfume. Other
accolades at the time were a song (“That Jabara Bird”) and a ritual
rewarding of his Distinguished Service Cross at a baseball game in
Boston.
Jabara
returned to the United States in May, 1951, for temporary
assignment to Air Force Headquarters, Washington, D.C. and two
months later was transferred to the Air Training Command at Scott Air
Force Base
, Illinois
. Upon his request, he returned for another
tour of duty overseas, arriving in Korea in January 1953. Now a
major, on his second tour, he shot down nine more MiGs for a total
of 15.
After Korea
Jabara returned to the United States in July 1953 and was assigned
as commander of the 4750th Training Squadron at Yuma Air Force
Base, Arizona. He was then reassigned to Headquarters of the 32nd
Air Division, Syracuse, New York.
He then assumed command of the 337th
Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Westover Air Force Base
, Massachusetts
.
By 1966,
Jabara had risen to the rank of Colonel (the
youngest at that rank at the time) and was to command the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing at Homestead AFB
, Florida. Jabara was widely rumored to be on the
brink of promotion to general when
he and his teenage daughter Carol Anne died in a car accident in
Delray
Beach, Florida
on November 17, 1966, just as he was preparing to
deploy the 31st Wing for his first tour in the Vietnam War.
The Jabara family were in two cars that day on their way to a new
home in South Carolina, where his wife Nina and their children,
James Jr., Carol Anne, Jeanne, and Cathy would reside during
Jabara's combat tour. Carol Anne was driving a
Volkswagen with her father as a passenger. She
lost control of the car going through a construction zone and it
rolled several times. James Jabara was pronounced dead on arrival
at the Delray hospital and Carol Anne died two days later.
The two
were buried together in a single grave at Arlington
National Cemetery
. His grandson Lt Nicholas Jabara, a 2001
graduate of the
United
States Air Force Academy, was killed during pilot training in a
T-37 accident on January 31, 2002.
Legacy
The
Colonel
James Jabara Airport
outside of Wichita, Kansas, was named after him. Each year, the
United States Air Force
Academy alumni association awards the
Jabara Award, named after Colonel Jabara, to
the Academy graduate whose accomplishments demonstrate superior
performance in fields directly involved with aerospace
vehicles.
Awards and decorations
During World War II, Colonel Jabara was awarded the
Distinguished Flying
Cross with one
Oak Leaf Cluster
and the
Air Medal with 18 Oak Leaf
Clusters. While in Korea, he received the
Distinguished
Service Cross with one Oak Leaf Cluster and an Oak leaf Cluster
to the
Distinguished Flying
Cross.
See also
Notes
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
