John B. Nichols

Who was John B. Nichols?

John Bennett Nichols, III was a United States Navy aviator and author.

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 he flew the Vought F-8 Crusader, the aircraft that defined his professional career.

Nichols joined Fighter Squadron 62 and adopted the callsign "Pirate." He also became a landing signal officer as well as a flight and tactics instructor. In the latter capacity he was one of the founding members of the Naval Fighter Weapons School that evolved into "Topgun."

During the Vietnam War Nichols made three Tonkin Gulf deployments between 1967 and 1973, flying from the aircraft carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Hancock .

On his first combat deployment, assigned to VF-191, Nichols was wingman to LCDR Michael Estocin, who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for actions in April 1967. On the following deployment Nichols destroyed one of two North Vietnamese MiG-17s that were attacking an RF-8 reconnaissance plane.