From http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/lcsun-news/obituary.aspx?pid=181706658
Jesse
P. "Jake" Jacobs, Jr. (Col. USAF Ret.) died in Las Cruces, New Mexico,
on September 9, 2016, after 93 great years.
Jesse's survivors include his four children and their spouses: Sara and Joe
Chambers, High Rolls, NM; Patricia (Pat) and Fred Jaeger, Louisville, CO; Jessie
and Nancy Jacobs, Gainesville, FL; and Thomas (Tom) and Karen Jacobs, Fresno,
CA. He is also survived by seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, as
well as multiple nieces and nephews. His wife of 64 years, Patricia Munford
Jacobs, preceded him in death, as well as his mother and father, Sara and Jesse
P. Jacobs, Sr; and two sisters, Josephine Tune and Dorothy Harz.
Jesse P. Jacobs, Jr. was born in Shelbyville, Tennessee, on August 20, 1923.
Aviation was his first love and became his life's work, after taking his first
flight at age 12 sitting on the lap of the famous aviator Eddie Rickenbacker at
a county fair. Graduating from Aviation Cadet Training in 1944 at the age of 20,
he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant and piloted 28 missions in a B-17 in the
European Theater of World
War II.
He married Patricia O'Connor Munford on June 20, 1946. Following graduation from
Virginia Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Industrial Engineering, Jesse
flew F-80s for the USAF in the Korean
Conflict,
completing 121 combat missions. He then became an experimental test pilot,
graduating from the British Empire Test Pilot School.
During his more than 46 years in aviation, Jesse logged over 10,600 pilot hours
in about 110 different makes, models and series of aircraft, serving more than
nineteen years at Wright-Patterson, Holloman and Edwards Air Force Bases as an
experimental test pilot. He finished his career at Edwards, receiving the Legion
of Merit for meritorious service as Director of Test Forces at the Air Force
Flight Test Center, and Director of two other Test Forces, the C-5A and the
XC-142A Tri-Service Test Forces. Additional awards include the Distinguished
Flying Cross, Airman's Medal, Air Medal with 11 Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Force
Commendation Medal, and other Service Medals. He was also named to the City of
Lancaster, California, Aerospace Walk of Honor in 1996.
Retiring from the USAF in June 1973, Jesse spent 16 years with Boeing Corp. as a
technical representative. Another highlight of Jesse's life was his almost 60
years of participation in the International Society of Experimental Test Pilots.
He was a Fellow and Past President of the Society (1970) and received their
Wings of Man Award, faithfully serving as a member of their scholarship
foundation committee until his death.
Jesse and Pat spent 17 years in Sequim, WA, after he retired from Boeing, moving
to Las Cruces, NM, in 2005. Jesse took excellent, loving care of his invalid
wife for the five years before she died. He was active in the Military Officers'
Association, the Daedalians, and the QBs in the Las Cruces area. Until his
death, Jesse was a loyal member of the Protestant Chapel congregation at
Holloman AFB and commuted weekly from Las Cruces to participate in services
there.