Career
Raised in Hialeah, Florida, Nichols enlisted in the United States Army and served as a combat medic during the Korean War. After attending college he was accepted for NavCad training and commissioned in 1957. Originally he flew the North American FJ-4 Fury but shortly thereafter made the transition to the more advanced Vought F-8 Crusader, The last United States. Fighter designed with Guns as its primary weapons system.
Called "The last of the Gunfighters," This would be the aircraft that defined his professional career.
Nichols joined Fighter Squadron 62 (VF-62) and adopted the callsign "Pirate." During the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962, Nichols and pilots of Fighter Squadron VF-62 flew escort for classified RF-8 reconnaissance flights over Cuba to protect them from Russian Mig Fighters. VF-62 was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation by President Kennedy.
Nichols also became a landing signal officer as well as a flight and tactics instructor. During the Vietnam War Nichols made three Tonkin Gulf deployments between 1967 and 1973, flying from the aircraft carriers United States Ship Ticonderoga (CVA-14) United States Ship Oriskany (CVA-34), and United States Ship Hancock (CVA-19).
On the following deployment Nichols destroyed one of two North Vietnamese MiG-17s that were attacking an RF-8 reconnaissance plane.
He later commanded VF-24 during the closing days of the war in 1973. At the end of his naval career, he was one of only five pilots to log over 3,000 hours in the demanding Crusader. Nichols flew over 350 combat missions during the war.
Upon retirement in 1975, Nichols returned to Florida and wrote occasionally.
The first of his two books was a combination memoir and analysis titled On Yankee Station (1987). Warriors, a novel about a Mideast air war, was released shortly before Operation Desert Storm in 1990.
On Yankee Station was well received in military aviation circles, and was added to the Air Force and Marine Corps professional reading lists.
