The ensuing combat lasted close to an hour, and when it was over, Kearby had shot down six enemy planes which includes, four Nakajima Ki-43s and two Kawasaki Ki-61s. Two other pilots had downed three Ki-61s between them for a total of nine Japanese fighters shot down without loss. This made Kearby the first P-47 ace of the Pacific Theater of Operations, and set a United States Army Air Forces record for most victories in a single mission. Upon hearing of this aerial victory, General George Kenney, head of Fifth Air Force in the Pacific, recommended Kearby for the Medal of Honor, which was presented to him by General Douglas MacArthur himself in January 1944. The American record for most victories in single mission is nine, set a year later by USN F6F Hellcat pilot, David McCampbell. Kearby's record would later be broken within the United States Army Air Force as well, when P-51 Mustang pilot William Shomo downed seven Japanese planes in a six-minute fight over the Philippines in January 1945. Postwar evaluation of Japanese records showed that only two of the nine victories credited on the Medal of Honor mission were valid although three other Japanese fighters were damaged. However, the two losses were a squadron and a wing commander. In November 1943, with 12 victories to his credit, Kearby was transferred to the headquarters of the 5th Air Force Fighter Command. Despite his assignment to administrative duties, Kearby still wanted to be in combat. He flew missions whenever he could, and his victory tally continued to rise. For a time Kearby was in competition with Richard Bong to be the leading Army ace of the Pacific Theater. Like Kearby, Bong wasn't assigned to a combat unit at the time and flew in addition to his assigned duty of instructor in order to stay in combat. During early March 1944, fighter pilots Bong and Thomas J. Lynch were close to breaking the American World War I record of 26 victories scored by pilot Eddie Rickenbacker. Hoping to break the record himself, Kearby hoped to score more victories to tie or break his record. By March 1944, Kearby had 21 kills to his credit. On March 5, 1944 took off on a combat patrol with Captain William D. Dunham and Major Samuel Blair to search for Japanese aircraft. Proceeding towards the Tadji area, they spotted enemy aircraft over Wewak, and intercepted three Kawasaki Ki-48's of the 208th Sentai approaching Dagua Airfield.