Maj. George Preddy Jr., the man who is credited with 26.83 enemy air-to-air kills (a number that includes shared one-half- and one-third-victory credits) ranking him as the top P-51 Mustang ace of World War II and 6th on the list of all-time highest scoring American aces.
After shooting down a few Japanese planes with his P40 in the Pacific and surviving a mid air collision, Preddy decided to earn some souls and skymiles over Europe with the 352nd FG (Blue-nosed Bastards of Bodney)
He quickly earned a reputation of a being a solid pilot and leader. Within a span of a few months, he had began to rack up his kills, to include shooting down 6 BF 109s in one single mission, while being completely hang over from the night before.
His actions earned him numerous awards such as the DSC, Silver Stars and more.
On the morning of December 25, 1944, as he was deep into a dogfight over Belgium, Preddy was killed by friendly AA fire as a Fw 190, Preddy's P-51, and two other P-51s passed over the Allied front line at treetop height.
The US Army anti-aircraft fired at the Fw 190 but missed and instead hit all three P-51s. Peddie was killed as his plane crashed in the nearby woods.
His brother William, also a P51 pilot, would be later killed by enemy AA fire in 1945. Both are buried next to each other in the Lorraine Cemetary.
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For those that are going to ask, the top ace of the war and possibly in history is Erich Alfred Hartmann who flew 1,404 combat missions, 825 dogfights, shot down 352 Allied aircraft—350 Soviet and two American.
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