Brigadier General Tex Hill: World War II Triple Ace Pilot And Flying Tigers Hero.

Raised in Texas and a graduate of Austin College, Naval Aviator David “Tex” Hill resigned his commission in 1941 to become a member of the American Volunteer Group, known as the “Flying Tigers.” The Flying Tigers were American pilots who volunteered to fly for the Chinese against Japan prior to the United States' entry in World War II. A top ace, Hill was credited with destroying 10 ¼ Japanese planes while with the AVG. After the United States joined the war, Hill received a commission in the Army Air Force where he ultimately commanded the 23rd Fighter Group. There he claimed eight more victories, giving him a total of 18 ¼ victories during World War II. After he left active service, Hill accepted command of the 136th Fighter Group of the Texas Air National Guard in 1946 and became the youngest Brigadier General in the history of the Guard.

He was born in Gwangju, Korea (then under Japanese rule), the youngest of four children of Presbyterian missionaries. The family returned to the United States when he was 15 months old. They eventually settled in San Antonio, Texas, where his father was the minister of the First Presbyterian Church.

"Tex" graduated from San Antonio Academy, San Antonio, Texas, in 1928 and from McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1934. While attending McCallie, he won the Tennessee Middleweight Championship in boxing in 1934. Tex then attended Texas A&M for two years before transferring to Austin College, from which he graduated in 1938. He was also a founding member of the Phi Sigma Alpha fraternity in 1932.

Hill's first flight occurred at Winburn Field when Marion P. Hair took Tex and a friend up in his Travel Air 4000. The boys had snuck out of church one Sunday and paid for the flight with their collection money.

In 1999, Hill was inducted into the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame located at the Lone Star Flight Museum in Houston, Texas. He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2006.

In 2002, he was conveyed an honorary lifetime membership in the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary (Civil Air Patrol) with a squadron of the CAP named in his honor—the Tex Hill Composite Squadron, of San Marcos, TX (SWR-TX-435). This squadron went on to become the third largest CAP squadron in the nation and in 2003 became the most decorated CAP squadron in the nation receiving the Texas Squadron of Merit, Texas Emergency Services Squadron of the Year, Regional (SW Region of the USA) Squadron of Distinction, and National Squadron of Distinction.

Hill died at the age of ninety-two on October 11, 2007, in Terrell Hills, Texas, of congestive heart failure. More than 2,000 people attended his funeral. He was buried at nearby Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

On November 2, 2007, the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg observed "Tex" Hill Day with speeches, patriotic music, and friends' memories of the fallen hero.

On November 2, 2008, the Air Force Heritage Flight at the Lackland AFB Air Show in San Antonio was dedicated to Hill. It consisted of an F-22, an F-15E, an F-16C, and a P-40 like the one Hill flew with the AVG.

Middle School 14 in San Antonio was named "Hill Middle School" after him in June 2013.

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Curtiss P-40 Warhawk Specifications:
Data from Curtiss Aircraft 1907–1947,[111] America's hundred thousand : the U.S. production fighter aircraft of World War II[112]

General characteristics

Crew: One
Length: 31 ft 8.5 in (9.665 m)
Wingspan: 37 ft 3.5 in (11.367 m)
Height: 10 ft 8 in (3.25 m)
Wing area: 236 sq ft (21.9 m2)
Airfoil: root: NACA2215; tip :NACA2209
Empty weight: 5,922 lb (2,686 kg)
Gross weight: 8,515 lb (3,862 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Allison V-1710-39 V-12 liquid-cooled piston engine, 1,240 hp (920 kW)
Propellers: 3-bladed Curtiss-Wright electric constant-speed propeller
Performance

Maximum speed: 334 mph (538 km/h, 290 kn) at 15,000 ft (4,600 m)
Cruise speed: 308 mph (496 km/h, 268 kn)
Range: 716 mi (1,152 km, 622 nmi) at 70% power
Service ceiling: 29,100 ft (8,900 m)
Time to altitude: 15,000 ft (4,600 m) in 6 minutes 15 seconds
Wing loading: 35.1 lb/sq ft (171 kg/m2)
Power/mass: 0.14 hp/lb (0.23 kW/kg)
Armament
Guns: 6 × 0.5 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns in the wings
Bombs: 250 to 1,000 lb (110 to 450 kg) bombs to a total of 2,000 lb (910 kg) on hardpoints under the fuselage and two underwing

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