USAAF
5th AF
5th Fighter Command
348th FG
342nd FS

1944


Ray Shearer 1944

Robert Greinert 2001

Justin Taylan 2003

via Robert Rocker 2005

Pilot  Col. Neel E. Kearby, O-21630 (MIA / KIA) Wichita Falls, TX
Shot Down  March 5, 1944
MACR  6579 and 6577

Aircraft History
Personal aircraft of Neel Kearby. 'Fiery Ginger IV' written in script on the left side of the cowl, and his score tally on the left side of the cockpit in rows of 5 kills.

Pilot History
Kearby is credited with 22 victories. He earned the Medal of Honor for a mission over Wewak on October 11, 1943.

Mission History
While attempting to break the WWI record of American ace Eddie Rickenbacker's 26 victories. After hearing of Richard Bong and Thomas Lynch approaching that score, he went out on a freelance patrol with friends Captain 'Dinghy' Dunham and Samuel Blair to search for kills.

Bound for the Tadji area, they spotted enemy aircraft over Wewak, and attacked three Ki-48's of the 208th Sentai approaching Dagua. Kearby's target did not go down, and he made a complete circle to attack it again. He was attacked by a Ki-43 Oscars from the 77th Sentai, before wingman Dunham could shoot the fighter down. They were unable to locate Kearby, ran short on fuel and returned to Saidor Airfield. Both pilots insisted on returning to the area to search for him, Dunham had to be physical restrained from taking off again.

Bailout & MIA Case Closed
From the Australian War Graves reports of 1946, villagers in the area of the crash related the fact that Kearby had bailed out, and became tangled in a tree. He died of bullet wounds. H's remains were found by Australians MIA Searcher Team in 1946, but was listed as MIA until 1948, his remains were returned to his hometown for burial, June 16, 1949. There is a controversy about which plane Kearby flew on his final mission, but evidence from this report, and the crash site proves that it was "Firery Ginger IV".

Recovery & Donation
The tail section and one of the machine guns from the wreckage were recovered from Wewak area in 2001 by Robert Greinert, and in 2003 it was donated to the USAF Museum, where it went on display in 2005.

References
Double Lucky? The Campaigns of the 77th Hiko Sentai by Richard Dunn
P-47 and P-51 Aces of the Pacific and CBI by John Stanaway

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