Jay C. Hess

Jay Hess was commissioned a Second Lieutenant and awarded his pilot wings at Williams AFB, Arizona, and then served as a Ground Intercept Controller with Air Defense Command at MacDill AFB, Florida. His next assignment was as an F-89 Scorpion pilot and then as an F-102 Delta Dagger pilot with the 438th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Kinross AFB, Michigan, followed by service as Assistant Manpower Officer with the 507th Fighter Group at Kincheloe AFB, Michigan. Captain Hess then completed an Air Force Institute of Technology assignment to complete his Bachelor's Degree in Aeronautical Engineering at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, followed by service as an F-105 Thunderchief pilot with the 354th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing at George AFB, California. He next deployed to Europe where he served as an F-105 pilot, and later as an F-4 Phantom II pilot, with the 22nd and 23rd Tactical Fighter Squadrons of the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing at Bitburg AB, West Germany. Captain Hess then deployed to Southeast Asia where he served as an F-4 pilot with the 558th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 12th Tactical Fighter Wing at Cam Ranh Bay AB, South Vietnam. He then served as an F-105 pilot with the 357th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing at Takhli Royal Thai AFB, Thailand, from June 1967 until he was forced to eject over North Vietnam and was taken as a Prisoner of War on August 24, 1967.