Nye graduated from
Barton Academy (Vermont) (1936) and the
University of Vermont (
BSc, 1941). He enlisted as
Army Air Corps flight cadet after graduation. In February 1942, he completed flight training and was commissioned a
second lieutenant. Through April 1943, he flew 36 missions with the
98th Bombardment Group from bases in
Palestine,
Egypt, and
North Africa. He flew
B-17s, and
B-24s. Nye returned to the United States in April 1943 and, in September, entered the
B-29 aircraft program, first as an acceptance test pilot at the
Boeing plant in
Wichita, Kansas. Nye's crew was formed at
Salina, Kansas, and assigned B-29 serial # 42-6232 in April 1944. This aircraft was named "Kickapoo II." Captain Nye had finished a tour of duty previously with 36 missions in a B-24's named "Kickapoo" in the
Mediterranean Theater of Operations. Nye was Aircraft Commander of an original crew that departed from Salina on April 4, 1944, for
Kharagpur, India, and was one of the first to leave Salina, and arrive at Kharagpur, with stops in
Presque Isle, Maine;
Marrakesh, Morocco;
Cairo, Egypt; and
Karachi, India. This crew flew several "operational" over-the-hump missions to
Pengshan A-7, the forward base in China. This crew flew the first mission by B-29's to
Bangkok, Thailand from Kharagpur (June 5, 1944), and the first mission from Pengshan A-7 to
Yawata, Japan on June 15, 1944. On June 20, 1944, Nye was ordered to the
468th Bombardment Group as assistant
S-3 (deputy group operations officer). In August 1944, Nye flew the longest B-29 mission (over ) in World War II by any type of aircraft to
Palembang, Sumatra, from a forward base at
China Bay, Ceylon. Nye flew this mission while substituting for a pilot who had become ill. Nye flew 11 combat missions with the 468th Bombardment Group in the
China-Burma-India Theater. In May 1945, he went with the 468 BG to
Tinian Island and then to
Roswell, New Mexico. Nye finished World War II on Tinian as group operations officer. In September 1946, he began duty as a
Reserve Officers Training Corps professor of air science and tactics at the
University of Massachusetts Amherst. Nye flew 19
Korean War combat missions with the
22d Bombardment Wing. Following an assignment to
SAC Headquarters in May 1953 and attending the
Air War College (July 1956-June 1957), Nye became a commander of various military organizations. He also served as chairman of the Rated Personnel Requirements and Allocations Committee at
the Pentagon and was appointed deputy director for plans and policy in the
Directorate of Plans in August 1968. In November 1968, he was appointed chairman of the U.S. delegation of the
Inter-American Defense Board, the Joint Brazil-U.S. Defense Commission, and the U.S. section, Joint Mexican-U.S. Defense Commission. In July 1969, General Nye became deputy director of plans. Nye was later assigned as commander, Field Command, Defense Atomic Support Agency, Sandia Base, New Mexico. ==Personal life, family, and death ==