The Air Force Academy, in conjunction with the Jabara family and the Association of Graduates, established the Colonel James Jabara Award for Airmanship on January 5, 1967.
With 15 kills, Colonel Jabara was the second leading Air Force ace of the Korean War. Colonel Jabara was the First American Jet Ace. Each year the U.S. Air Force Academy and the Association of Graduates present the Colonel James Jabara Award to an Academy graduate or graduates whose airmanship contributions are of great significance and set them apart from their contemporaries.
In early 2013 The Friends took on the challenge of creating a database detailing the lives of graduates honored with the Jabara Award. As part of a multi-year heritage project supported by The Friends of The Academy Library, this effort reflects The Friends commitment to being a premiere Academy organization in recording and preserving the heritage of the Air Force Academy. The project’s continuing goal is to assemble all the available material dealing with the adult lives of these Air Force Academy graduates and future award 
recipients.
Previously there was no central location for information about these recipients nor was much of the existing information readily accessible. Thus far hundreds of pages of written and photographic documentation has been collected, scanned, electronically filed, indexed, and made accessible. Procedures have been established for updating these files as more information onaward recipients is acquired, and adding files as other recipients are selected. If you have any information you wish to be considered for inclusion in this database, please contact The Friends. We encourage you to enjoy the fruits of this historic project. The Friends believe this project will have a lasting impact for decades to come, indeed as long as the Academy exists.
The graduate database is currently in the process of being migrated from legacy software to a more modern, user accessible interface. Until complete, data will be unavailable. Please check back frequently as this process continues.
