Storied WWII Pilot Was 92
Aero-News has learned
renowned World War II fighter pilot David Lee "Tex" Hill passed
away Thursday at his home near San Antonio, TX. He was 92... and
lived his life to the fullest up to the end, according to friend
Tibaut Bowman.
"He was still alert and fabulous just up until when he died,"
Bowman, who described himself as one of Hill's "hunting buddies,
flying buddies and drinking buddies," told the Houston
Chronicle.
Hill graduated as a naval aviator in 1939... and soon joined the
battle brewing overseas. He joined the American Volunteer Group
"Flying Tigers" in China in 1941, flying Curtiss P-40 Warhawks.
Hill's accomplishments in the AVG were forever immortalized in
the 1942 film, "The Flying Tigers" -- with John Wayne playing him
on the silver screen. After dissolution of the Flying Tigers in
1942, Hill was one of only five Flying Tigers to join its USAAF
successor, the 23rd Fighter Group. He later rose to command the
Group, as a major in the US Army Air Corps.
Throughout the war, he racked up 18 1/4 confirmed enemy kills.
Bowman told the Chronicle the "1/4" was due to Hill's involvement
in a shoot-down with three other planes; each pilot got credit for
one-quarter of the downed plane.
Hill emerged from the war a hero, with numerous medals --
including a Silver Star, Legion of Merit, the British Flying Cross,
and six Chinese combat medals.
The pilot also earned the Distinguished Flying Cross... in 2002,
59 years after a dogfight over enemy territory in China. A US Air
Force panel found Hill had been denied the medal at the time, due
to a difference in opinion between two Army generals and Hill's
boss, Brig. Gen. Claire Lee Chennault.
Hill flew over 150 combat sorties. After the war, he was among
the pilots who tested America's first jet aircraft. He later joined
the Air National Guard... where he became the youngest brigadier
general in the history of the Texas Air National Guard.
"Tex Hill was a genuine American hero and a Texan of the highest
caliber," Texas Governor Rick Perry said Thursday. "Whether he was
flying from the decks of a carrier as a naval aviator, fighting
with the legendary Flying Tigers of the American Volunteer Group,
winning a Distinguished Service Cross, or commanding the first jet
unit in the Army Air Forces, he always led from the front."
Bowman, Hill's longtime friend, gave the storied aviator one of
the highest compliments imaginable.
"I can say this probably on behalf of 50 people, except for my
own dad who is my personal hero, 'Tex' Hill was the biggest hero I
ever had," he said. "Unquestioning integrity and loyalty, purpose,
determination, compassion."
Hill is expected to be buried next week, at Fort Sam Houston in
San Antonio.
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