James Jabara - After Korea

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. By January 1957 Jabara was at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida to join the 3243rd Test Group to test Lockheed F-104 Starfighters. He was first reassigned to Headquarters of the 32d Air Division at Syracuse, New York, then assumed command of the 337th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts. In 1958, Jabara flew combat missions over Taiwan in the F-104 Starfighter. From July 1960 to June 1961, he attended and graduated from the Air War College in Montgomery, Alabama. At Carswell Air Force Base, Texas, Jabara piloted the first supersonic bomber, the Convair B-58 Hustler as part of the 43d Bomb Wing. Jabara also helped train NATO pilots on the F-104 Starfighter in July 1964, when he was stationed at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona and he wrote of the aircraft's significant technological improvement over the F-86 Sabre.

In 1965, Jabara was given command of the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida. By 1966 Jabara had risen to the rank of colonel—the youngest at that rank at the time, and he volunteered to fly combat missions for the Vietnam War. He flew his first mission in July 1966, joining a F-100 Super Sabre flight group for a bombing run that damaged several buildings held by the Viet Cong in South Vietnam. He returned to Homestead about a week after the mission.