United States. A Distinguished Flying Cross to Colonel Nelson, United States Army, United States Air Force

A Distinguished Flying Cross, to First and Second War Veteran, Colonel Frederick Cyrus Nelson, United States Army, United States Air Force ; Bronze gilt, 44 mm (w) x 44 mm (h), original ribbon with brooch pinback, extremely fine. Accompanied by its 17 mm (w) x 3.5 mm (h) enamelled Ribbon Bar with button hole attachment, in its harshelled case of issue, marked "DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS" on the lid, light scuffing on the exterior, case near extremely fine. Also included is a Photograph of Nelson (black and white, gloss finish, obverse illustrating Captain Nelson in uniform with overcoat, standing in front of an aircraft, reverse inscribed "Capt. Fred C. Nelson, executive and engineering officer on army's winter Montana flight", photographer stamped in blue ink "PHOTOGRAPHER / MAZMANIAN / REPORTER" with the signature "Hayden" in pencil, along with the date stamps "1935 JAN 30 PM 12 59" and "FEB 2 1935", 204 mm (w) x 254 mm (h), creased on the left side); along with copies of his Service Records and various newspapers articles.

Footnote: Frederick Cyrus Nelson was born on March 17, 1894 in St. Paul, Minnesota, the third of four children of Frederick Carl Nelson, a compositor, and Hulda Josephine Holm Nelson. Both of his parents had immigrated to the United States from Scandinavia. Nelson enlisted as a Private (010519) in the United States Army at San Antonio, Texas, on April 17, 1917, soon moving up through the ranks to Corporal. He was trained as a pilot and received a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Aviation Section of the Signal Officers Reserve Corps, on January 28, 1918. He then assumed the role of Flying Instructor, first at San Antonio, followed by a posting to Fort Worth, Texas on May 2nd and then overseas at Issoudun in Central France during the First World War as of September 2, 1918. He was designated a Pursuit Pilot with No. 13 Squadron on November 11, 1918, later becoming a Pilot with No. 166 Bomber Squadron at Trier, Germany on January 2, 1919, as part of the Army of Occupation. Three months later, he became a Interpreter at General Headquarters while with No. 49 Squadron at Coblenz (now Koblenz) in Central Germany on April 2nd, and would remain in this position until June 20th, when he returned to the United States. Nelson is documented as having been a Pilot Engineering Officer at Mitchell Field, New York on July 4, 1919 and having participated in a transcontinental aerial derby in October 1919. He was posted to the Primary Flying School at Carlstrom Field, Florida on December 2, 1919, as a Stage Commander. He was then posted as Officer-in-Command of AFAFS at Post Field, Oklahoma on May 2, 1920, where he would remain for almost four years, until February 28, 1924. While at Post Field, this commission was vacated on September 9, 1920, with Nelson appointed a First Lieutenant in the Air Service of the United States Army, retroactive to July 1, 1920. Lieutenant Nelson married Miss Jewell I. Moody at Lawrence, Missouri on October 23, 1921, the couple later having two children (his son, James Richard Nelson, would go on to graduate from the United States Military Academy and rise to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force). Known as an Army Pilot and as the dean of the school at Kelly Field (San Antonio), Nelson participated in a flying exhibition at Buffalo, New York in 1924, accomplishing a difficult outside loop over the Queen City. He started his circle at 7,800 feet and was only 2,800 feet above ground on completion of the stunt. The outside loop had been seldom attempted at less than 10,000 feet, making his name now permanently linked to three known air aces: Jimmy Doolittle of the Army, Al Williams of the Navy and commercial pilot Fred Lund. Nelson was posted to Bridgeton, St. Louis, Missouri on March 1, 1924, where he became an Instructor with NG Air Service. He remained in St. Louis for twenty-one months, before being transferred to the School for Instructors at Brooks Field, Texas on December 1, 1925, assuming the position as Stage Commander, as Officer-in-Command. He went on to become Senior Instructor of Air Service PFS at March Field, California on May 1, 1928. Two years after arriving on the West Coast, Nelson would be posted for overseas service in the Pacific, appointed ESTB of the Landing Field at Nicholas Field in the Philippines, from May 2, 1930 to July 30, 1932. After over two years in the Philippines, he returned to the United States, appointed as Commanding Officer at Selfridge Field, Michigan, from August 16, 1932 to June 30, 1937. It was during this period that Lieutenant Nelson was promoted to Captain on January 1, 1931, to Major (Temporary) on April 20, 1935, and then to Major on June 16, 1936. In the rank of Captain, Nelson continued his passion for pursuit flying, as he won the Mitchell Trophy at Selfridge Field, near Mount Clements, Michigan with an average speed of 216.832 mph. More than 50,000 spectators were present at Selfridge Field on November 17, 1934, to see Captain Nelson, United States Army Air Corps, win the Mitchell Trophy Race. Captain Nelson flew his Boeing P-26A over an 89-mile (143.2 kilometer) course at an average speed of 216.832 miles per hour (348.957 kilometers per hour). The P-26A was a single-seat, single-engine monoplane. It was the first all-metal U.S. Army pursuit, but retained an open cockpit, fixed landing gear and its wings were braced with wire. The P-26A was 23 feet, 7.25 inches (7.195 meters) long with a wingspan of 27 feet, 11.6 inches (8.524 meters), and height of 10 feet, 0.38 inches (3.058 meters). Its empty weight was 2,197 pounds (997 kilograms) and gross weight was 2,955 pounds (1,340 kilograms). The P-26A was powered by an air-cooled, supercharged, 1,343.804-cubic-inch-displacement (22.021 liter) Pratt & Whitney R-1340-27 (Wasp SE) single-row 9-cylinder radial engine with a compression ratio of 6:1. This engine had a Normal Power rating of 570 horsepower at 2,200 r.p.m to 7,500 feet (meters), and Takeoff Power rating of 500 horsepower at 2,000 r.p.m. at Sea Level. The direct-drive engine turned a two-bladed Hamilton Standard adjustable-pitch propeller. The R-1340-27 was 43.25 inches (1.099 meters) long, 51.50 inches (1.308 meters) in diameter, and weighed 715 pounds (324 kilograms). The P-26A had a maximum speed of 234 miles per hour (377 kilometers per hour). The service ceiling was 27,400 feet (8,352 meters), and its maximum range was 635 miles (1,022 kilometers). The pursuit (an early term for a fighter) was armed with two forward-firing .30-caliber M1919 Browning machine guns. Boeing built 136 production P-26s for the Air Corp and another 12 for export. Nine P-26s remained in service with the Air Corps at the beginning of the Second World War. Captain Nelson was Executive and Engineering Officer on the Army's Winter flight to Montana on January and February of 1935. After five years in Michigan, he was transferred to Maxwell Field, Alabama on July 1, 1937, where he became Post Operations Officer.

The following summer, on July 2, 1938, while landing a Curtiss YC-30, 33-321, at Maxwell Field, Major Nelson was involved in a collision with another aircraft. The YC-30 was damaged beyond repair. Two months after the accident, he enrolled as a student at the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field on September 2, 1938, completing the course and graduating on June 2, 1939. Soon afterwards, he became Commanding Officer of the Observation Squadron at Moffett Field, California on June 5th, followed four weeks later as Base Commander at Sacramento Air Defense, California on July 2nd, a position he would hold for two years, before assuming the role as Commanding Officer with ACAFS at Valdosta, Georgia on July 1, 1941. He assumed the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (Temporary) on November 16, 1940 and was assigned as Commanding Officer of the Army Air Force Advanced Flying School (AAFAFS) at Moody Field, Georgia on January 6, 1942. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on October 15, 1941. After the American entry into the Second World War, Nelson was promoted to the rank of Colonel, Army of the United States on October 15, 1942. He was assigned as the first Commanding Officer of the newly-established 29th Flying Training Wing on December 26, 1942. Four months later, he returned to the Pacific theater, where he was appointed Commanding Officer of 67 Transport Squadron, Air Transport Command in the Fiji Islands on April 20, 1943. Five months after arriving in Fiji, Colonel Nelson returned to the United States, where was assigned as Air Inspector at Air Transport Command Headquarters in Washington, D.C. on September 16, 1943. His services were required overseas once again, this time at Accra, Ghana on the African continent, where he was appointed Commanding Officer CEAD/ATC at Headquarters CAWATC on June 28, 1944 and as Division Commander at Headquarters CEADATC on January 1, 1945. Eight months later, he was transferred to Casablanca, Morocco on September 1, 1945, where he became Division Commander at Headquarters NAFDATC. Upon the ceasing of hostilities, he returned to the United States, where he was appointed Air Inspector of 501 AAFBU in Washington, D.C. on January 1, 1946. This was followed by a series of appointments over the next few years: to Commanding Officer of the Alaskan Sector, 550 AAFBU Headquarters CTNLD ATC at Memphis, Tennessee on July 18, 1946; to Deputy Commanding Officer, 1100 AAFU Headquarters HTLD ATC at Fort Totten, Long Island, New York on October 3, 1946; and to Deputy Commanding Officer, 1100 AAFU Headquarters HTLD ATC at Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts on April 1, 1948. Colonel Nelson returned to the West Coast, where served for two years as Wing Commander and the first Commanding Officer of the 62nd Troop Carrier Wing at McChord Air Force Base, Washington, from April 1948 to May 1950. He continued serving on the West Coast, first as Deputy for Materiel 4AF as of June 14, 1950, then as Deputy for Materiel WADF as of July 20, 1950, both positions at Hamilton Air Force Base in Marin County, California in the San Francisco Bay Area. Colonel Frederick Cyrus Nelson retired from the United States Air Force September 30, 1951 after thirty-four years of service. He died on April 11, 1991 at the age of 97 and is buried in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, California. His awards included: the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, the Army of Occupation of Germany Medal, the World War I Victory Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.