Jabara of the 334th FS/4th FW dived alone after his sixth MiG was downed in F 86A 5 49 1318, making him the first “ace” of the jet age. This occurred in the late afternoon of May 20, 1951.
Capt. James Jabara of the US Air Force was the first jet-versus-jet ace in history.
After taking down his sixth MiG in F 86A 5 49 1318 on May 20, 1951, Jabara of the 334th FS/4th FW dived alone because his wingman, 1Lt Salvadore “Jack” Kemp, had become separated from him early in the battle. This made him the first “ace” of the jet age. More than 50 MiG-15s were at that time dogfighting Sabres in the skies over “MiG Alley,” according to Peter E. Davies in his book F-86A Sabre Korea 1950–1951.
White smoke began to emerge from the jet pipe of Capt. V. A. Nazarkin’s 196th IAP aircraft after Jabara collided with it. The MiG-15 slowed to 195mph and went into a terminal spin. Jabara tracked it down to 6,500 feet, where he was startled to notice red tracers passing by his plane. Future five-victory ace Capt. Boris Abakumov and his unidentified wingman had made Jabara their target. The freshly crowned ace found it difficult to maneuver as his aircraft kept dipping to the right due to his right external fuel tank stubbornly remaining under the wing when he tried to discard it earlier in the battle.
Jabara was saved by squadronmates Capt. “Mo” Pitts and 2Lt. Rudy Holley after a tense pursuit in which they chased the MiGs off his tail and damaged one. At 3,500 feet, Nazarkin’s jet exploded after he ejected. According to Soviet reports, Snr. Lt. Mikhail Zykov, Jabara’s sixth victim, flew his damaged MiG back to Antung despite having sustained serious injuries during the battle.
But Jabara was then sent back to the US for special duty following his fifth and sixth victories.
In January 1953, he went back to Korea at his own request. He achieved a total of 15 air-to-air jet victories during the Korean War by the end of June after taking out nine additional MiG-15s. During World War II, Jabara was also credited with 1.5 wins over Europe. (During World War II, the German Luftwaffe claimed 22 jet pilot aces, but all of the claims used Allied prop-driven aircraft.)
Jabara, who was a colonel at the time, was killed in a car accident in November 1966 while en route to a new assignment.
F-86A Sabre Korea 1950–51 is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.
Photo by U.S. Air Force, Gareth Hector and Jim Laurier