COLONEL NEEL KEARBY WAS AMONG
THE TOP SCORERS IN THE PACIFIC WHEN
HE PUSHED HIS LUCK TOO FAR WHILE
CHASING EDDIE RICKENBACKER’S
RECORD BY JOHN STANAWAY
PACIFIC
THUNDERBOLT
ACE
28 AH july 2016
SOMETHING TO PROVE
Lt. Col. Neel Kearby (far right)
leads two flights of the 348th
Fighter Group on a patrol from
Port Moresby, New Guinea.
Inset: Kearby, now with V Fighter
Command, shows off his 15
victories as of December 3, 1943.