Nelson Parkyn Jackson (December 26, 1910 – November 13, 1960) was a highly decorated U.S. Air Force colonel who commanded the 327th Fighter Group and the 64th Fighter Wing during World War II. He was also the chief of staff of I Fighter Command, where he played a key role in training pilots for combat and developing close air support tactics. After the war, he was involved in the formation of Strategic Air Command (SAC) as deputy chief of staff of the 15th Air Force and was actively involved in the US atomic energy program, participating in Operation Crossroads nuclear tests and commanding Operation Fitzwilliam. Jackson later served as a NATO liaison officer within the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He went on to become the D.C. manager for GE's Atomic Energy Division and an attorney involved in the aerospace and nuclear industries. He was a founder and president of the National Space Club, which later established the Nelson P. Jackson Aerospace Memorial Award in his honor.
Ancestral heritage Nelson P. Jackson was born in Burlington, Vermont, in 1910. He was the son of Mabel Maude Parkyn and S. Hollister Jackson, who served as the 56th Lieutenant Governor of Vermont until his death in the Great Vermont Flood of 1927. On his paternal side, his grandfather was Rev. Samuel Nelson Jackson, both a medical doctor and a leading Congregational minister with national and international standing. His uncle, John Holmes Jackson, served as the 24th and 26th Mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and remains the city's longest-serving mayor. Another uncle, Horatio Nelson Jackson, gained national recognition as the first person to drive an automobile across the U.S., and later was a co-founder of the American Legion and owner of the Burlington Daily News, where Nelson worked as a part-time reporter. His maternal uncle was Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn, a prominent figure in the New Thought movement and founder of The Chicago School of Psychology.
Education In 1925, Jackson was admitted to the Culver Military Academy, a preparatory school in Indiana. During his summer breaks, he took flying lessons at Chanute Field in Rantoul, Illinois. In 1929, he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point from Senator Porter H. Dale. That same year, his childhood friend from Burlington, Alfred D. Starbird, was also admitted. Graduating in the class of 1933, Jackson received his commission as a second lieutenant and joined the Air Corps.
Early military career In the fall of 1933 Jackson began his primary flight training at Randolph Field near San Antonio, Texas. He then completed his advanced pursuit flight training at Kelly Field earning his pilot wings in 1934. In December 1934, Jackson was transferred as a first lieutenant to Albrook Field in Balboa, Panama. He was assigned to the 74th Pursuit Squadron, under the command of Orrin Leigh Grover. In 1935 the squadron won the "Department Commander's Trophy", an annual award given to the best Air Corps squadron in the department. Several of his class of 1933 USMA classmates, including Dwight Divine (24th Pursuit), Laurence B. Kelley (25th Bomb), Robin B. Epler (7th Observation), and Thomas B. Hall (80th Service), were also stationed with him at Albrook Field. Following a two-year assignment in Panama, he returned to Kelly Field in San Antonio in 1937 as a flying instructor in the pursuit section. During his three years there he also earned a law degree from the Weber Law School. As a flying instructor he was granted a 10-day leave each year, during which he was allowed to fly his Seversky P-35 training plane with a fellow air mechanic across the country to test new runways and advancements in air radio technology. These flights took him from San Antonio to Denver, Salt Lake, Reno, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Burlington, New York, and D.C. In 1940, he was promoted to the rank of captain and reassigned back to Albrook Field, Panama, serving as both a flying instructor and a fighter squadron commander, responsible for defending the Panama Canal Zone and conducting antisubmarine air patrols.
World War II
At the start of U.S. involvement in World War II, Jackson was assigned to organize and train new fighter units. In August 1942, he was transferred to I Fighter Command, First Air Force, at Mitchel Field, New York, where he took command of the newly formed 327th Fighter Group. The unit was then placed under the Philadelphia Air Defense Wing and temporarily stationed at Philadelphia Municipal Airport before being permanently relocated to Richmond Army Air Base in Virginia. The 327th Fighter Group would serve as the parent operational training unit for the Philadelphia Air Defense Wing, which was designated as the training wing for the First Air Force. It comprised the 323d, 324th, 325th, and 443d Fighter Squadrons. General Glenn O. Barcus, who had also been transferred from the Panama Canal Zone air defenses, was appointed commander of the newly formed Philadelphia Air Defense Wing. He would oversee the training conducted by the 327th Fighter Group and form newly trained fighter groups for combat deployment. Jackson and Gen. Barcus's collaboration would continue throughout World War II.
In February 1943, Jackson was promoted to the rank of major and advanced to colonel in July of the same year, becoming the fourth youngest officer to attain this rank at the time. The 327th initially trained with P-40 Warhawks, then transitioned to the new Republic P-47 Thunderbolt (nicknamed the “Jug”) in early 1943. The P-47 offered greater speed, improved bomb load capacity, and enhanced survivability against enemy defenses. By October 1943, the first fully trained P-47 fighter group composed of the initial wave of pilots trained by the 327th was ready for combat. Designated by Gen. Barcus as the 358th Fighter Group, it was assigned to the Eighth Air Force and deployed to England. The group would quickly earn a reputation for executing devastating attacks on German aircraft and ground forces in France. Gen. Barcus regarded them as the best-organized and best-trained fighter group sent into combat.
WWII: 64th Fighter Wing
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