Coats and crewmembers named their plane Nancy Jane after one guy’s girl friend and Coats wife. “It was all good experience to me, I enjoyed it,” Coats said. He was prepared to stay longer, but decided to return to his wife and two children at the time. He and Jane had a third child later.
Once his plane was hit, and the pilot set the plane down on the water. The three crewmen bobbed up and down for nine hours in an inflatable raft before one spied a ship on the horizon. They were rescued.
After the war, he returned to Tulsa and went to see whom he remembered at the Bus Terminal Company. He ended up accruing 45 years service.
Coats had wanted to fly. He was one of about 15 chosen for the Navy Air Corps from 125 who signed up for the military in Tulsa. At boot camp, they gave him what he asked for. He attended aviation ordinance school in Norman. He was assigned to a squadron in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He didn’t want to talk about the awards he received, because he didn’t want to sound as though he was bragging. But, he did say he went on 30 bombing runs, five torpedo runs, and damaged or sunk 31 ships. Retired now, he is a deacon at Red Fork Baptist Church and is a Tulsa County Election Board official. He enjoys feeding the birds and squirrels. He is a Webster High School alumnus.
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