TEXHILL
Ray Mansfield tells the lesser known story of David Lee ‘Tex’ Hill’s post-AVG wartime career, and models one of his CBI-based P-51B Mustangs
Volunteer Group (AVG) and incorporate the formation in to the US Army Air Force (USAAF). As the members of the AVG were technically civilians, the use of rather heavy-handed tactics to force the men to join the USAAF ‘voluntarily’, went badly and resulted in most of them leaving to return to the United States or joining up with the China National Aviation Company (CNAC), to fly supplies in C-47s from India to China.
A Only five pilots chose to join the USAAF in
China – David Lee ‘Tex’ Hill amongst them – after being personally asked to do so by Lieutenant General Claire Chennault, advisor to the Chinese Air Force and organiser of the AVG that became known as the ‘Flying Tigers’. Chennault later took command of the 14th Air Force and after the war organised an air freight service and Civil Air Transport servicing China.
The AVG was deactivated in July 1942; its
place taken by the newly formed 23rd Fighter Group, commanded by Colonel Robert Scott, who later wrote the best seller ‘God is My Copilot’. ‘Tex’ Hill was promoted to Major and given command of the 75th Fighter Squadron and along with his remaining fellow veteran AVG pilots, helped train the new USAAF pilots on how to fight the Japanese.
Don Lopez, a young pilot assigned to the 23rd
FG, described a typical briefing ‘Tex’ Hill style... ‘You've seen in the film ‘Twelve O'clock High’,
when the 8th Air Force was going to have a big thousand-plane raid, all of the maps and pointers and different people giving briefings? Well, our briefing consisted of ‘Tex’ Hill getting up and saying, “Y'all follow me.” That was the whole briefing, and we did; and it worked very well.’
By December 1942, Hill had been promoted to
Lieutenant Colonel and returned to the US to command the Proving Ground Group at Elgin Field, Florida. However, it was not long before Chennault requested Hill to come back to China. It was an offer that Hill was eager to accept and in October 1943, he returned to China, as Commander of the 23rd Fighter Group. In the same month, North American P-51 Mustangs started to arrive from India to replace the unit’s ageing P-40s.
fter the entry of the United States in to World War Two in December 1941, plans were made to disband the American
In November 1943, the Mustangs were put to
use in a raid on the Japanese airfield at Shinchiku on Formosa (present day Taiwan). The airfield had already been under aerial observation by the previous commander of the 23rd FG, Bruce Holloway. He related his plan to Hill, who was happy to execute it. On 24 November, an F-5 reconnaissance flight over Shinchiku showed a large concentration of Japanese aircraft, estimated at the time to be over 200 in total. The 23rd FG had eight P-51s combat ready, with fourteen B-25s from the Chinese American Composite Wing, and eight P-38s waiting for the right opportunity to strike, and this was it.
As mission leader, ‘Tex’ Hill led the P-51s from
Kweilin to a forward base at Suichuan in the morning, followed by the P-38s and B-25s in the afternoon. The mission was on for Thanksgiving Day, 25 November, and at a briefing that morning, the plan was laid out to the pilots. The aircraft would fly over 400 miles to Formosa, drop down to tree level to avoid detection and then climb to 1,000 feet just before reaching the Japanese airfield. The P-38s would fly top cover while the Mustangs stayed with the B-25s. Once the B-25s had dropped their bombs, all the fighters were to take turns strafing the airfield.
As they approached the airfield, some
Japanese bombers were coming in for a landing. The B-25s immediately started their bombing run while the P-51s zoned in on the Japanese bombers. Some Ki-43s were able to take off to challenge the Americans, but many were shot down, including one credited to ‘Tex’ Hill, who then proceeded to strafe Japanese aircraft on the ground and some troops in a nearby river.
As Hill turned for home, a loud bang startled
him. Thinking he had just been hit by an enemy aircraft, he immediately jerked his machine into a dive. As he recovered, there was no enemy in sight and Hill realised it was his overheated guns that ‘cooked off’ an unspent shell.
Based on a reconnaissance flight after the
mission, he was credited with another Japanese aircraft destroyed on the ground and a probable. ‘Tex’ Hill became the first American to shoot down a Japanese aircraft in a P-51 Mustang.
The Japanese airfield at Shinchiku in Formosa after the 23rd Fighter Group's raid. (US Air Force)
‘Tex’ Hill standing by a P-51B as CO of the 23rd Fighter Group with the unit's patch sewn on to his leather jacket. This is another USAAF publicity photo. (Tex Hill)
A colour shot of the same aircraft in China. (Tex Hill)
‘Tex’ Hill standing on the wing of a P-51B for a US Army Air Force publicity shot. Note the well worn condition of the aircraft. (Tex Hill)
‘Tex’ Hill speaking with General Chou of the Chinese Air Force and T Bennet, who would be, in the future, commander of the Chinese-American Composite Wing, in 1943. (Associated Press)
‘Tex’ Hill looks on as Lt Col Claire Chennault awards the Distinguished Cross to Rector. Colonel Robert Scott is standing behind Hill. (Associated Press)
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A rare picture of ‘Tex' Hill’s ‘Bull Frog’ with the tri- colour spinner and the nickname clearly seen applied on the starboard side. (Tex Hill)
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