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closeIn heat of battle, pilot stayed cool
Veteran Gil Nelson awarded two Presidential Citations during WWII
Susan Schell
of the Gateway
Looking back at the heat of battle, surrounded by cruel and grueling life-threatening situations, sometimes the human mind can recall the smallest of details. Army pilot Gil Nelson of Gig Harbor can remember freezing in the cockpit while he flew bombers over strategic locations during World War II.
“It was terribly cold up there,” he said. “You were two miles high, and you flew all day. Icicles would form around your oxygen mask. Then they’d break off and fall at your feet.”
During the war, Nelson flew the B-17 bomber, dubbed “the big-ass bird,” because its vertical stabilizer was so big.
Nelson grew up in south Tacoma, graduated from the University of Washington and already had a private pilot’s license when the war began. He started Army cadet training in San Antonio, which proved to be a shock to the system of the native Pacific Northwesterner.
“I had never been in such a hot spot in my life,” Nelson said. “I had only been out of Washington to Oregon — that was the extent of my travels. I wore the only suit I had, and it was a wool suit. In San Antonio, you could cut the humidity with a knife.”
By August 1943, Nelson was flying B-17s out of North Africa.
“It was a nice jump, because I already knew how to fly Piper Cubs,” he said. “In cadet training, you flew more powerful planes.”
Nelson flew from Africa to Italy and Germany on all-day missions with the 2nd Bomb Group of the 20th squadron of the 15th Army Air Force.
“You’d get up in the dark and be briefed and take off around 5 a.m.,” he said. “You’d be briefed on where the mission would be and who the fighter escort would be.”
Nelson’s 10-man squadron flew deep into enemy territory, flying in a seven-plane formation. He said it was vital to stay in formation, even while the enemy was attacking.
There was safety in numbers.
“The German pilots were very good,” Nelson said. “You were like a duck flying in formation, and you couldn’t maneuver. They’d peel off one behind the other and come at you head-on, sometimes within 100 feet. If you got out of formation, they’d pick you off like a wolf pack goes after a wounded animal.
“It was easier to go after one plane than the whole squadron.”
The German attack planes fired relentlessly on the American formations, scarring the sky with tracers left behind the gunfire.
“They’d swoosh by, one right after the other,” Nelson said. “It was like the Fourth of July with all those tracers.
“You always had flack. If someone (an aircraft) got hit, they’d explode in a black cloud, and you’d have to fly through these clouds and you couldn’t see anything. You knew they were out there, you just hoped you wouldn’t get hit.”
The American fighter planes that were protecting the bombers couldn’t carry as much fuel as the larger planes, so they would carry extra fuel tanks on their wingtips. Fighter planes that ran out of fuel had to turn back, leaving the bombers unprotected.
“On our deep trips into Germany, we never had fighter protection,” Nelson said. “The Germans knew this. They were very tactical fighters. They would fire at the fighters and make them drop their wing tanks. This is where the tremendous losses took place.”
As the squadrons’ protection dropped off, the B-17 and B-24 bombers, which the Germans called “freighters,” flew on to their missions at the sheer mercy of fate.
“They didn’t want to fight the fighters, they wanted to fight the freighters,” Nelson said. “They were protecting their homeland. We were after strategic targets — factories that produced bombs and ball bearings. If they couldn’t produce ball bearings, they couldn’t fight the war. It was so important for them to continue to produce and protect their oil.”
Nelson recalled extreme heavy anti-aircraft fortification around those factories. He heard one German fighter was credited for shooting down 134 “freighters.”
Like many people who have overcome devastating trauma in their lives, Nelson can look back on the war and find silver linings in the dark clouds.
Such as when his crippled plane made an emergency landing in Ajaccio, on the French island of Corsica. The squadron was bombing submarine bases in southern France when Nelson’s plane was hit.
“We were jumped by fighters,” he said. “We lost a motor and a super charger. I didn’t think we could make it to base.”
Nelson spent four days in Ajaccio while the plane was repaired and discovered it was the birthplace of Napoleon. The history buff seized the opportunity to learn about the man.
“It was a chance for a little R&R,” he said. “I would never have been able to visit Corsica otherwise. I got to visit the home where Napoleon was born and became interested in the history of Napoleon.”
Nelson downplays the two Presidential Citations he earned while he was on duty. His bomber group was the only group to get two Presidential Citations on consecutive days. Nelson was the squadron leader for both of them.
“When losses are terrible and the morale is low, they give the group a Presidential Citation,” he said. “It’s just decision-making. When you’ve got nine other guys depending on your judgment — it’s not just you — you’re responsible for nine other lives.”
Nelson said he never really excelled in academics or any particular sport. But he was remarkable at one thing.
“I was never outstanding in anything,” he said. “But one thing I could do was fly.”