MSgt Thomas I. Nutting enlisted in the USAF in October 1950. He attended basic training and then transferred to the 1298 ATS at Washington National Airport where he was a C-54 mechanic for a short while and then a C- 47 crew chief/flight mechanic. He later became a C-54 Flight Engineer and flew VIP support with the 1298th. He was then selected to attend C-118 Flight Engineer training at West Palm Beach, Florida. Upon gradua- tion he was assigned to VC-118, 53-3240, which was a brand new aircraft used at the time by the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Wison. Sgt. Nutting also received training to become a C-121 Flight Engineer but never completed the training as the needs of the USAF changed.
Sgt. Nutting then transferred to “the Agency”, and attended P2V-7 ground school at Lockheed, Burbank, California and Navy P2V-7 flight training at Whidby Island. Sgt. Nutting and one other flight engineer became the first USAF personnel qualified on this USN aircraft. He was then instrumental in the testing of the RB-69A (USAF name for P2V-7) at Eglin AFB, Florida and later delivered two new RB-69As to Wiesbaden, Germany. The unit in Wiesbaden flew both RB-69A and C-118 aircraft. Sgt Nutting was a crewmember on C-118, 51-3822, which was shot down in Armenia on 28 June 1958. Fortunately he was not on that ill-fated flight. The lost C-118 was replaced with 53-3278, with Sgt. Nutting as the only remaining flight engineer and crew chief. He later transferred with the aircraft to Det. 1, 1045th at Eglin AFB, Florida and transferred again with the aircraft to Kadena AFB, Okinawa. He flew opera- tionally out of Okinawa for three years.
In June 1963, Sgt. Nutting departed Okinawa for Offutt AFB, which marked the end of his career with the agency and 53-3278.
His assignment at Offutt involved C-54s and C-97s. The USAF had planned to replace the C-54s with C- 118s but instead received more KC-97s which were tankers and the unit converted them to cargo C-97s. Sgt. Nutting was a crew chief on one of the new C-97s. In June 1966, he was transferred to Viet Nam, Tan Son Nhut AFB at Saigon. There, he flew with an RC-47 unit. He flew as flight mechanic out of Saigon then took two aircraft to Phubi, outside of Hue, and spent the rest of the tour there flying 7 hours every other day. He returned to Offutt in March of 1967 back to the same unit as before. This time, however, he was assigned as flight line controller and was promoted to NCOIC Four Engine Branch. In this role, he was responsible for 8 C-97s and about 65 men under his supervision. He stayed at Offutt until retiring in November, 1970.
During his Air Force career, MSgt. Nutting flew over 12,000 hours as either a flight engineer or flight me- chanic. During his tour in Viet Nam he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and three Air Medals and was awarded the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal upon retirement.
Thomas and his wife, Lois, have three sons who traveled with and shared in his aviation career. All three sons have followed their father into aviation. One son works with a large military contractor, one son, a pilot, also retired from the USAF and their third son is an Aircraft Mechanic and Certified Inspector.