Jerry Cobb, 70: Vietnam War fighter pilot helped Falcon Field

"Jerry was interested in everything that went on at the airport and was unceasing in his efforts to make Falcon Field the best general aviation airport in the area and to protect the airspace around the airport," Mr. Warner said. "His unflagging efforts on behalf of the Great Georgia Airshow were Herculean. That show -- and Jerry's efforts -- literally put Falcon Field on the map."

The annual two-day show has ballooned in attendance from 7,000 when it began 13 years ago to 22,000 last year, according to Jim Savage of Peachtree City, a colonel in the Commemorative Air Force, one of the event's sponsors.

"Jerry had an essential role in that growth, recognizing the most effective ways to attract top talent and taking care of details like obtaining FAA clearances in his capacity as air show director," he said.

Jerry R. Cobb, 70, of Peachtree City, died Oct. 10 at Piedmont Hospital of heart failure. A celebration of his life will be held at 3 p.m. Oct. 24  at the Falcon Field Terminal Building. Carl J. Mowell & Son Funeral Home, Peachtree City, is in charge of arrangements.

It was a mark of Mr. Cobb's long career in the Air Force and with commercial airlines that every step of the way he taught, mentored, counseled and evaluated others in his profession.

Mr. Cobb flew a F-4 Phantom jet fighter on 100 combat missions dodging anti-aircraft fire and surface-to-air missiles over Vietnam, plus 35 other missions over Laos.

"In most cases we were providing fighter escort for bombers, and we would consider the missions a success if we kept the enemy's fighters at bay and returned home safely ourselves," said an Air Force colleague, Maj. Gen. George Harrison (ret.) of Peachtree City.

After he completed his Vietnam tour, Mr. Cobb was assigned to Homestead Air Force Base in Florida. "Jerry was one of the best instructors I ever saw with his patience and calm and his ability to make complex procedures understandable," Maj. Gen. Harrison said.

Leaving the service at the rank of captain, Mr. Cobb became a pilot for National Airlines; then upon its merger with Pan American Airways, he regularly flew to Europe for Pan Am.

In the mid-1980s, Mr. Cobb got involved in a program called cockpit resource management. The idea was to encourage a pilot to take advantage of the knowledge and experience of co-pilots, flight engineers, cabin crew and ground crew and not carry the burden of decision-making entirely on his shoulders. "Not only did we train Pan Am pilots this way; we trained all the NASA astronauts at that time, plus pilots at other airlines," said fellow National and Pan Am pilot Bill Houston of Evergreen, Colo.

While living in Florida and working for Pan Am, Mr. Cobb took dozens of teenagers up in his 1946 Globe Swift, a two-seat monoplane, giving them their first close-up exposure to flying. "Jerry was a real positive influence on those young people and set a number of them, my son included, on a path to careers in civilian and military aviation," Mr. Houston said.

When he and his family moved to Peachtree City in the early 1990s, Mr. Cobb gave young people here similar Globe Swift joyrides and encouraged them to think of their own future in the skies, said his son, John Cobb of Atlanta, himself an Air Force Reserve F-16 fighter pilot.

Mr. Cobb was a highly respected senior pilot when he moved over to Delta, and was tapped to train new pilots and check out Delta's more experienced pilots every six months, as required by the Federal Aviation Administration.

"Jerry was right for the job," said Mike McGowan of Peachtree City, another Delta pilot and trainer. "He had a professional manner and could deliver criticism in a positive way. He was a pleasure to work with."

Survivors also include his wife, Ann Cobb, and two other sons, Ross Cobb of Miami and Thomas Cobb of Olympia, Wash.