In 2016, we received the sad news that another one of our dear aviation test pilot friends had passed away. Retired Air Force Col. Jesse P. “Jake” Jacobs Jr. lived in Las Cruces, N.M. He was born in 1923 and was 93 when he passed.

My husband, Al, and I attended many SETP (Society of Experimental Test Pilots) Symposiums and always looked forward to seeing our test pilot friends. So many names come to mind, wonderful guys like Dick Laywer, Bob Gilliland, Fitz Fulton, Bob Hoover, Bob Ettinger, Bill Dana, Joe Guthrie and Jesse Jacobs, who had attended every SETP Symposium since they began in 1957.

Jesse joined SETP in 1959 and served in many capacities on the Board of Directors and was selected SETP President in 1969-1970. He made a video of his recollections of SETP that was shown at the 60th Awards Banquet.

Jesse was one of my email buddies and we like to send each other old clippings from the Ward’s and Sear’s catalogs. We laughed at the prices and the wide variety of items you could purchase from the catalogs back in the 1930s and 1940s.

One email Jesse sent to me had pictures of the 1934 Ward’s ‘Wish Book.’ I wrote to him and said, “Can you believe those prices? Sounds so cheap, except it was so much money back then that most people couldn’t afford to buy any of it, so they just ‘wished for it!’

“Love the ‘gas powered’ iron!! Also, love the shoes and the baby chicks! My Mother ordered 500 chicks from Sears in 1948, we ate a lot of chicken!!”

Jesse wrote back and said, “This is the year my Daddy died. I was 10 at the time, I turned 11 in Aug. after he died in Feb. He had been bed ridden for about 3 yrs. My Mother had absolutely no income. We lived off of my Grandfather’s farm products. I didn’t know what a steak was until I got in the Army. We ate mainly ham & veggies. This could be why my bones are like “oak” according to the surgeon who replaced my left knee in 2007.” He always signed off with, “Hugs, Jesse.”

Jesse decided to become a test pilot and military officer soon after his first dollar ride in an open cockpit airplane in 1935. Since he was only 12 years old at the time, he had to wait a while. World War II presented the means, even though he almost went to war with the Field Artillery as a Private First Class with a 6th Class Specialist rating. In 1944, he became a pilot and second lieutenant in the U.S. Army at Stockton Field, Calif. He asked for, and received, B-17s.

Jesse flew combat over Europe from England with the 861st and 862nd squadrons of the 493rd Bomb Group. Jacobs flew the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber over Europe during World War II and flew 121 combat missions in the Korean War.

After returning to the United States in 1951, he spent a short tour in the Air Defense Command prior to departing for the Empire Test Pilot School in Boscombe Down, England, in February 1953. He graduated from ETPS Course No. 12 where he flew about 20 types of British aircraft.

He was then assigned to bomber test at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, where he flew as a test pilot in the B-47, B-50 and B-52 (including the XB-52 with J-75 and J-57 engines in a 6-engine configuration), B-57, B-26 and B-17. A year later he was promoted to major to attend the Command and Staff College, graduating in 1960.

He was assigned to the Air Force Missile Development Center, Holloman AFB, N.M., in July 1960. After being promoted to lieutenant colonel, he spent two years as Test Director in the Interceptor Improvement Program. He flew the F-101B in this program and in air to air missile development programs.

Jesse transferred to the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, Calif., in July 1964 and became Test Director, Tri-Service V/STOL XC-142A Test Force. The goal was to develop a practical intra-theater transport capable of delivering cargo to forward combat positions. Sounds like the mission of the V-22, doesn’t it? The Vought-Hiller-Ryan or, as it was later known, Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) designed and manufactured the XC-142A.

I remember Jesse explaining the XC-142A test program to my husband, Al, “The wing would tilt up to 98-degrees, more than straight up,” said Jacobs. “It had four T64-GE-1 turboprops and a maximum speed of over 400 mph.”

The engines were mounted in nacelles on the wings, and were all cross-linked together. Each drove a giant four-bladed Hamilton-Standard fiberglass propeller, the tips of each practically overlapping each other. The four engines also drove a fifth propeller, an eight-foot three-bladed tail rotor through an interconnected gear and shaft train.

The wing tilt mechanism consisted of two screw-jack actuators driven by a centrally located hydraulic motor. The boxy airplane had a fuselage length of 58-feet, 1-inch and a wingspan of 67-feet, 6-inches.

According to historical records, the four-engine V/STOL transport was somewhat ahead of its time and never reached its full potential.

The XC-142 Tilt-Wing V/STOL program had its roots from the recommendations from a government advisory group in 1959. The group recommended that a full-size aircraft was required, with specific requirements for the Navy and Army. Beyond the obvious military applications of such a system, there were also many who felt that the plane could also have considerable civilian applications. (Bell Aircraft is producing a civilian version of the V-22 tilt-rotor today.)

The first XC-142 was rolled out in early 1964 with its first conventional flight being made in September 1964, its first hover three months later, and first transition two months later than that. The Air Force extensively tested the XC-142’s capabilities with cargo flights, cargo, and paratrooper drops, along with desert, mountain, rescue, and carrier operations.

The program called for the building of five prototypes, but cross-shaft problems, along with some operator errors, resulted in a number of hard landings causing damage to the complete fleet. The only remaining XC-142, (#2) currently is on display at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base at Dayton, Ohio.

He also conducted a wide variety of tests on B-17, B-26, B-29, B-47, B-50, B-52 and B-57 aircraft, which included a six-engine XB-52, which had four inboard J-57’s, and two J-75 afterburning engines.

Jacobs received the Legion of Merit for meritorious service as Director and test pilot on the C-5A Test Force. It was at the time, one of the world’s largest aircraft. During his 46 years in aerospace, Jacobs logged more than 10,600 flight hours in more than 100 types, models and series of aircraft. He flew 28 combat missions over Germany in B-17’s in World War II. He added 121 combat missions in F-80’s in Korea. He served as a test pilot for more than 19 years at Edwards, Wright Patterson and Holloman Air Force Bases.

There is a historical marker commemorating Jesse’s 46 years in aerospace in Lancaster, Calif., on the Aerospace Walk of Honor, located at the corner of Lancaster Boulevard and Sierra Highway.

We miss you Jesse, and will always remember your quick smile, wonderful stories, great accomplishments and contributions to the aerospace community.