William Nutter
Airplane Mechanic, WWII Veteran, Delaware Civil Air Patrol, Bronze Star
William F. Nutter enlisted in 1941 and was the first enlistee from Wilmington to be sworn in to the Army Air Force. He served with the 36th Service Squadron and the 8th Army Air Force.
Master Sergeant Nutter became electrical shop chief after he completed courses of study in the Air Corps Technical School for airplane mechanics and aeronautical electronics. He assumed responsibility for not only all maintenance and power for base buildings, but also for training all his men. He also had his regular duties as repair chief for the repair of battle damaged aircraft electrical equipment. After training his men, he started a school to train technicians from other stations and depots, successfully training over 150 men.
Master Sergeant Nutter was awarded the Bronze Star in 1944 for his ingenuity, skill, hard work and technical knowledge in solving a problem with electrical generators on B-17 aircraft that grounded over 1,000 8th Air Force planes in one month. He determined the problem, and invented test equipment to evaluate the faulty equipment. Through his efforts, the problem was brought to the attention of 8th Air Force Headquarters resulting in a directive causing all voltage regulators on these generators to be removed from aircraft, tested, replaced if faulty, and then retested every subsequent fifty hours thus saving lives and greatly improving the mission effectiveness for B-17s in the theater of operations.
Master Sergeant Nutter also designed and completed modifications to eliminate problems with PFF equipment, landing gear motors, Bombay motors and turbo amplifiers. For all his outstanding efforts, he was also awarded a Certificate of Merit and ten Letters of Commendation from the 8th Air Force.
After the war, Mr. Nutter served as an Operations Officer for the Delaware Civil Air Patrol, and held a commercial pilot's license. He was inducted as a member in the Delaware Veterans Hall of Fame in 2000.
