Douglas SBD Dauntless
Neale left his studies at the University of Washington to enlist in the United States Navy in 1938. He became an aviator, receiving his wings in 1939, and was a dive-bomber pilot on the aircraft carrier , flying the Curtiss SBC Helldiver and Douglas SBD Dauntless. Ensign Neale resigned his commission to join the AVG of the Chinese Air Force in June 1941.