Page 7 - Aerotech News and Review, November 19, 2021

Jesse Jacobs:

U.S. Air Force veteran and experimental test pilot

by Cathy Hansen Calif. He asked for, and received, B-17s.
special to Aerotech News Jesse flew combat over Europe from England with the 861st
and 862nd squadrons of the 493rd Bomb Group. Jacobs flew
In 2016, we received the sad news that another one of our the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber over Europe during World
dear aviation test pilot friends had passed away. Retired Air War II and flew 121 combat missions in the Korean War.
Force Col. Jesse P. “Jake” Jacobs Jr. lived in Las Cruces, N.M. After returning to the United States in 1951, he spent a short
He was born in 1923 and was 93 when he passed. tour in the Air Defense Command prior to departing for the
My husband, Al, and I attended many SETP (Society of Empire Test Pilot School in Boscombe Down, England, in
Experimental Test Pilots) Symposiums and always looked February 1953. He graduated from ETPS Course No. 12 where
forward to seeing our test pilot friends. So many names come he flew about 20 types of British aircraft.
to mind, wonderful guys like Dick Laywer, Bob Gilliland, Fitz He was then assigned to bomber test at Wright-Patterson
Fulton, Bob Hoover, Bob Ettinger, Bill Dana, Joe Guthrie and AFB, Ohio, where he flew as a test pilot in the B-47, B-50
Jesse Jacobs, who had attended every SETP Symposium since and B-52 (including the XB-52 with J-75 and J-57 engines in
they began in 1957. a 6-engine configuration), B-57, B-26 and B-17. A year later
Jesse joined SETP in 1959 and served in many capacities he was promoted to major to attend the Command and Staff
on the Board of Directors and was selected SETP President in College, graduating in 1960.
1969-1970. He made a video of his recollections of SETP that He was assigned to the Air Force Missile Development
was shown at the 60th Awards Banquet. Center, Holloman AFB, N.M., in July 1960. After being
Jesse was one of my email buddies and we like to send each Courtesy photograph promoted to lieutenant colonel, he spent two years as Test
other old clippings from the Ward’s and Sear’s catalogs. We Jesse Jacobs Director in the Interceptor Improvement Program. He flew
laughed at the prices and the wide variety of items you could the F-101B in this program and in air to air missile development
purchase from the catalogs back in the 1930s and 1940s. no income. We lived off of my Grandfather’s farm products. I programs.
One email Jesse sent to me had pictures of the 1934 Ward’s didn’t know what a steak was until I got in the Army. We ate Jesse transferred to the Air Force Flight Test Center,
‘Wish Book.’ I wrote to him and said, “Can you believe those mainly ham & veggies. This could be why my bones are like Edwards AFB, Calif., in July 1964 and became Test Director,
prices? Sounds so cheap, except it was so much money back “oak” according to the surgeon who replaced my left knee in Tri-Service V/STOL XC-142A Test Force. The goal was to
then that most people couldn’t afford to buy any of it, so they 2007.” He always signed off with, “Hugs, Jesse.” develop a practical intra-theater transport capable of delivering
just ‘wished for it!’ cargo to forward combat positions. Sounds like the mission of
“Love the ‘gas powered’ iron!! Also, love the shoes and Jesse decided to become a test pilot and military officer
the baby chicks! My Mother ordered 500 chicks from Sears in soon after his first dollar ride in an open cockpit airplane in the V-22, doesn’t it? The Vought-Hiller-Ryan or, as it was later
1948 — we ate a lot of chicken!!” 1935. Since he was only 12 years old at the time, he had to known, Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) designed and manufactured
the XC-142A.
wait a while. World War II presented the means, even though
Jesse wrote back and said, “This is the year my Daddy died. I he almost went to war with the Field Artillery as a Private First I remember Jesse explaining the XC-142A test program to
was 10 at the time, I turned 11 in Aug. after he died in Feb. He Class with a 6th Class Specialist rating. In 1944, he became a my husband, Al, “The wing would tilt up to 98-degrees, more
had been bed ridden for about 3 yrs. My Mother had absolutely pilot and second lieutenant in the U.S. Army at Stockton Field, See PILOT, Page 10

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