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'''Neel Kearby''' was a P-47 pilot in the Pacific Theater of [[World War II]], and the commanding officer of the 348th Fighter Group.  Before his death in combat in 1944, he scored 22 aerial victories and won the [[Medal of Honor]], one of only three USAAF fighter pilots (and the only P-47 pilot) in the Pacific Theater to do so.

'''Neel Kearby''' was a [[P-47]] pilot in the Pacific Theater of [[World War II]], and the commanding officer of the 348th Fighter Group.  Before his death in combat in 1944, he scored 22 aerial victories and won the [[Medal of Honor]], one of only three USAAF fighter pilots (and the only P-47 pilot) in the Pacific Theater to do so.

Before Neel Kearby, a native of [[Texas]], joined the war with the 348th FG, he was assigned to the [[Panama Canal]] Zone, flying patrols in P-39 fighters.  He was one of the first pilots of the group to be checked out in the P-47 Thunderbolt, and was immediately impressed with it, convinced that the large and powerful fighter was superior to any [[Axis]] plane.  He, along with the rest of the fighter group, arrived in [[Australia]] in June 1943.  The P-38 Lightning had been the premier Allied fighter in the area for close to a year, and the Lightning pilots looked down on the stubby, heavy Thunderbolt.  The story goes that Kearby himself proved the P-47’s fighting prowess in a mock dogfight with a P-38.  Operationally, however, the P-47s were still handicapped by their relatively short range, though this was alleviated partially by new external tanks.

Before Neel Kearby, a native of [[Texas]], joined the war with the 348th FG, he was assigned to the [[Panama Canal]] Zone, flying patrols in P-39 fighters.  He was one of the first pilots of the group to be checked out in the P-47 Thunderbolt, and was immediately impressed with it, convinced that the large and powerful fighter was superior to any [[Axis]] plane.  He, along with the rest of the fighter group, arrived in [[Australia]] in June 1943.  The P-38 Lightning had been the premier Allied fighter in the area for close to a year, and the Lightning pilots looked down on the stubby, heavy Thunderbolt.  The story goes that Kearby himself proved the P-47’s fighting prowess in a mock dogfight with a P-38.  Operationally, however, the P-47s were still handicapped by their relatively short range, though this was alleviated partially by new external tanks.