Veteran shares knowledge of airplanes with young history enthusiast

Merle Nimbar flips through a book of old war planes at the Montana Veterans Home in Columbia Falls. Even though it is sometimes difficult for him to recount memories from his long and colorful life, he doesn’t skip a beat when he flips to an illustration of an F-80 fighter jet.

“The first time I saw an F-80, I couldn’t believe it could go that fast,” he said.

Nimbar, 94, shares the picture of the plane with his visitors — 13-year-old Derek McDonough and his grandparents. McDonough’s enthusiasm and interest in military history led his grandparents to set-up a meeting with the World War II veteran. On one of his final days of spring break, McDonough spent time speaking with Nimbar and asking him questions about being a pilot during the final months of World War II.

“Was the B-29 your favorite plane?” McDonough asked Nimbar.

“Well no, I guess my favorite plane was the B-17 because that’s what I was stationed in,” Nimbar said.

Nimbar is from Lemon, North Dakota. He was raised on a “dirt farm” where his family grew potatoes, corn and other crops. It was in 1946 that he lied about his age in order to join the military and enlist with his brother, Merve.

“Everybody was patriotic back then,” Nimbar said.

He completed basic training at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and learned to be a pilot, but was never deployed overseas. A background in writing that landed him a desk job at the Pentagon during the final months of the war before he was honorably discharged in 1948 receiving decorations and citations.

Nimbar’s love of planes started during his time as a pilot but has carried it with him throughout his life. In addition to a long career of being a typesetter for many different newspapers across the country, Nimbar also worked at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. for several years.

His daughters Jolene Banker and Judy Cothern note Nimbar enjoyed his time as a docent tour guide at the Air and Space Museum and “knew stories about every plane.” Banker said he even sold his own car at one point in order to afford a B-17 bomber that came up for auction.

“It was a B-17 foraging bomber, it came up as surplus and it came up on the auction block,” Nimbar said. “I did actually own it for a short period of time.”

Nimbar spent many years of his life flying and enjoying airplanes. He moved to Montana a few years ago to be closer to two of his three daughters. Cothern said her father always enjoyed the appreciation veterans got around the Flathead Valley when he was more mobile and able to get out.

“He would wear his WWII cap, people in Kalispell would come up and shake his hand and it wasn’t like that where he lived before, it just warmed our hearts,” Banker said.

The sisters were appreciative to the young McDonough and his family for their interest in Nimbar’s story.

McDonough said his family has long ties to the military, including his father who served in the Navy for 24 years. He said enjoys learning about World War II the most compared to other events in United States military history.

“That was the last real war we were in…that was the last actual war we were in and it was quite crazy,” McDonough said.

Cothern and Banker said they were excited that their dad was able to share just a little bit of his immense knowledge of military planes and share his love of them with an eager visitor.

“You like airplanes, don’t you dad?” Cothern said.

“Oh yeah!” Nimbar said enthusiastically.