The Major Nutter Jerome Wimbrow III Collection documents the events of Nutter Wimbrow III's death in 1972 during the bombing of Hanoi, North Vietnam. Materials include copies of official communication from the Defense Intelligence Agency, two books, a copy of a magazine article, and a brief biography of Wimbrow by Brigadier General John D. Howard.

Nutter Wimbrow, called NJ by his family, was born in 1939. He graduated from Stephen Decatur Junior/Senior High School in 1957 and enrolled in Salisbury State Teachers college to pursue training for teaching math. However, in 1961, he chose not to teach and joined the United States Air Force as a commissioned officer. He was to become an Electronic Warfare Officer (EWO). After navigation training, he was assigned to Randolph Air Force Base in Texas for EWO training. Upon completion, Wimbrow was awarded his wings and assigned to a B52 stratofortress crew in Kincheloe Air Force Base in Michigan.  

Eventually Lt. Wimbrow's plane was assigned to participate in the Vietnam War bombing targets in Hanoi, Haiphong and other major cities (an operation codenamed Linebacker II). Bombings began on the night of December 18, 1972 after North Vietnamese negotiators, Le Duc Tho and Xuan Thuy, terminated the Paris peace talks. The attack was temporarily suspended on Christmas Eve. Nutter Wimbrow, then a captain in the US Air Force, flew on two of those missions. Bombing resumed on December 26. During the Christmas "pause," tactics were refined so B52's approached targets from multiple directions, making tracking by North Vietnamese surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries more difficult. 

Attacking targets in a high threat anti-aircraft environment required many other airplanes, not just the bombers. The mission on the 26th involved 120 B52's and 113 support aircraft, including fighter escorts to ward off MIG's, chaff spreaders that dispensed corridors of thin aluminum strips to confuse enemy radar, anti-SAM missile fighters (known as Wild Weasels) whose missiles locked on enemy tracking radar and electronic counter-measure aircraft (jammers). B52's attacked targets in waves. Within each wave were multiple "cells," each cell ideally consisting of three or more bombers. Aircraft in each cell had a specific call sign. Wimbrow's plane (Serial number 0674- Call sign Ebony 02) was in a two-aircraft cell, not an optimal situation because two B52's provided only limited jamming capability. When Ebony 02 was approaching Hanoi, SAM batteries were tracking it. A SA-2 was fired and narrowly missed. A moment later, Nutter Wimbrow, the EWO, calmly announced over the intercom, "We're going to be hit."

The second missile hit near the cockpit, killing Captain Morris, the pilot. the co-pilot First Lieutenant Robert Hudson, sustained a broken arm but steadied the crippled B52 and dropped the bomb load. Seconds later, a third missile hit the aircraft's left wing causing it to flip over. Hudson ordered the crew to bail out. He later recalled Nutter saying he was ejecting. A few moments later, the aircraft exploded, throwing the tail gunner, Technical Sergeant James R. Cook, free of the burning B52. He was having trouble getting out of the aircraft when the explosion occurred. Cook was seriously injured but taken prisoner when he parachuted to the ground. His wounds were such that both legs had to be amputated below the knee after he was released as part of the repatriation process specified in the January 1972 Paris Peace Accords.

In addition to Hudson and Cook, Captain Michael Labeau and First Lieutenant Duane Vavroch (the navigator and radar navigator (commonly called the bombardier)) were also captured and imprisoned. North Vietnamese soldiers found Captain Morris' body in a field. Nutter Wimbrow was apparently killed during the ejection. In February 1973, the Department of Defense obtained a photograph of a B52 crewman dead on the ground. It was identified as Nutter J. Wimbrow. His parents in Whaleyville, Maryland were apprised and his status was changed from Missing In Action to Killed In Action. He was posthumously promoted to the grade of major.

On September 30, 1977, the North Vietnamese released the remains of Bob Morris and Nutter Wimbrow to US control. Nutter was interned in the Dale Family Cemetery in Whaleyville, Maryland.

Ebony 02 was one of two B52's (of a total of 120 launched from Guam and Thailand) lost on the night of December 26. The other, call sign Ash 01, was heavily damaged during the mission but managed to limp back to its base in U-Tapao, Thailand. It crashed upon landing; only two of the six crew members survived.

In 2002, Marshal L. Michel III published a book, The 11 Days of Christmas. The entire book is devoted to Linebacker II. Nutter Wimbrow is cited on pages 195 and 196.

Another book, First In, Last Out: An American Paratrooper in Vietnam with the 101st and Vietnamese Airborne, by John D. Howard, contains a shorter synopsis of that part of the Vietnam War (pages195-198), to include the loss of Nutter Wimbrow and Dick Cooper. NJ Wimbrow was John Howard's cousin.

The Major Nutter Jerome Wimbrow III Collection documents the events of Nutter Wimbrow III's death in 1972 during Operation Linebacker II, a bombing mission over Hanoi, North Vietnam. Materials include copies of official communication from the Defense Intelligence Agency, two books, a copy of a magazine article, and a brief biography of Wimbrow by Brigadier General John D. Howard, Wimbrow's cousin.