Frank A. Hill

Success against Germans

earned him a hero's acclaim

Frank A. Hill, a World War II ace enshrined in the Aviation Hall of Fame of New Jersey, died on Thursday.

The Hillsdale native, reportedly the first American flier to shoot down a Nazi plane, was 92.

Mr. Hill worked as a plumber's helper before enlisting in 1939 in the U.S. Army Air Corps, the predecessor of the U.S. Army Air Forces.cq Mr. Hill had taught himself to fly in a primary glider that he and his friends rebuilt, his son, Thomas, said.

By 1942 the United States was in the war, and the name "Frank Hill" was appearing in war correspondents' dispatches.

"While flying fortresses of the U.S. Army were knocking out the largest German fighter field in the Dieppe area [of France] Wednesday, U.S. fighter pilots scored three probable victories in one of the war's biggest air shows," the The Associated Press reported in August 1942.

The report singled out "Frank Hill, 23, of Hillsdale, N.J.," who "shot down a Focke-Wulf 190, Germany's fast new fighter, for the first American fighter victory of the war."

But Mr. Hill "did not see |the crash and so claimed only |a 'probable.'x"

Ten months later, the The Associated Press cited Mr. Hill as "the top scorer" in a Spitfire unit that boasted "one of the best records of any unit in the U.S. Army Air Forces."

166 combat missions

Mr. Hill's exploits are summarized on his plaque at the Teterboro museum housing the Aviation Hall of Fame of New Jersey: 166 combat missions over Europe and Africa and seven downed Axis planes.

His derring-do wasn't lost on the Pascack Valley. The decorated lieutenant colonel returned on Nov. 14, 1943, and more than 3,000 people swarmed into Hillsdale for a parade and a reception.

The Bergen Evening Recordcq splashed the story on Page One under the headline, "Hill of Hillsdale Comes Home to Find He's a Hero."

Mr. Hill did not address his admirers directly but told "thrilling stories" as Bergen Evening Record reporter Walter E. Brill interviewed him before an overflow crowd in the grammar school auditorium.

Mr. Hill, who never lost a plane and was never injured in the war, remained in the Air Force after it succeeded the Army Air Forces as an independent military branch in 1947. His roles included commander of air bases in New York and Greenland and director of operations for the Air Defense Command in Colorado Springs, Colo.

War diary

After retiring as a colonel in 1969, he settled in the Pompton Plains section of Pequannock and ran a real estate brokerage. He was inducted into the |state Aviation Hall of Fame in 1992.

Mr. Hill seldom spoke about his war record. "He never elaborated on any of his victories until he started to write his memoirs," which are based on a diary he kept during the war, his son said.

Thomas Hill said he plans to complete and publish the memoirs.

Mr. Hill and his wife, Linda, moved several years ago to an assisted-living center in Birnamwood, Wis.

He is survived by his wife of 70 years; his children, Janet Schmidt of Birnamwood, Wis., Robert Hill of Colorado Springs and Thomas of Pequannock; a brother, eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Mr. Hill was buried on Monday in the cemetery of the First Reformed Church in Pompton Plains. Arrangements were by M. John Scanlan Funeral Home, Pompton Plains.

Email: levin@northjersey.com