Maj. William Nosker
718th Squadron Commander
47th Wing Assistant Operations Officer
Bill was born in 1919 in Columbus, Ohio. He attended Upper Arlington HS where he was an outstanding athlete earning a total of 14 varsity letters in four sports. He went on to play guard on the Ohio State University football team, helping them win the 1939 Big 10 championship. He was elected to the honorary society each of his four years and was sophomore class president.
Bill joined the Army Air Corps in March, 1941. He received his training at a variety of bases in Oklahoma and Texas. He was selected to represent the “Typical Air Cadet” in a nation-wide recruiting effort. While stationed at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas he married his longtime girlfriend, Jean Sanborn. After gaining his wings, he became a flight instructor for B-24s. In June of 1942 he began training as a squadron commander and later that year he joined the 449th BG(H)’s during its training and was named the commander of the unit’s 718th squadron.
Bill was credited with 27 missions while with the 449th BG, 35 missions in total. Many of his missions included flights on Harpers Ferry and Big Noise from Kentucky. He piloted Sinners Dream the day before it was lost on the January 30th, 1944 mission against the German Airfield at Udine. Italy.
In July of 1944 he was promoted to Assistant Wing Operations Officer with the 47th Wing of the 15th AF. He lost his life August 15th, 1944 when flying as an observer during Operation Anvil, the invasion of Southern France. The plane he was on crashed on takeoff. His remains were identified by 716th squadron Medic, St. Sgt. Allen because Nosker was wearing his Big 10 Championship ring.
Maj. Nosker was awarded the Air Medal and three Oak Clusters to it, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star and posthumously, the French Croix de Guerre.
Ohio State University honored the memory and service of William Nosker by naming one of their student dormitories Nosker House in 1966. A new version of Nosker House was opened for the fall semester in 2016 in the university’s North Campus complex.
Alan Davis
Chillicothe, OH
