Gerald's first flight was in a Piper Cub, in the spring of 1961, at the age of 17. He was a farm boy from Wapakoneta, Ohio that went to the same school had the same Physics/Chemistry teacher as Neil Armstrong. He personally met Mr. Armstrong and showed slides/films for him, at a welcome home ceremony for him in May of 1962, when he was selected to the NASA Astronaut Corp.

Gerald enlisted into the U. S. Navy at 18 years of age, as a guaranteed high school aviation recruit on 5 July 1962. He worked on the McDonnell Phantom F4-B's during his four-year tour in the U. S. Navy as an aviation structural mechanic, in Fighter Squadron VF-142. He had two tours of Westpac off the coast of Vietnam on the carriers USS Constellation, CVA-64 (including Gulf of Tonkin) and USS Ranger, CVA-61. He was the squadron night shift check crew leader. He separated from the U. S. Navy on 19 July 1966.

From January 1967 till August 1967, he was employed by McDonnell Aircraft Corporation in St. Louis, Missouri as part of the production line on the F4-B Phantoms.

From August 21, 1967 till May 1, 1999, Trans World Airlines employed him. He worked at KMCI as a mechanic and at KSFO as an A&P flight line mechanic. He worked in KSTL as an A&P flight line mechanic, A&P flight line crew chief, accessory shop crew chief, and as a coordinating A&P flight line crew chief. During his 32 years at Trans World Airlines, he worked on DC-9's, CV-880's, B707's, B727's, MD80's, L1011's, B747's, B757's, B767's, and B717's. During this time span, he saved a fellow mechanic co-worker that had become entangled in the LH MLG door of a B707 prior to flight departure in June of 1981.

From April 20, 1999 to April 30, 2014, he will have worked as a weekend nightshift Gateway Workload Coordinator Supervisor for United Parcel Service Airlines at KSDF.

The FAA presented the Charles E. Taylor Award to Gerald in August 2012, for working over 50 years in aviation.