Anybody who knows Fred Norman will tell you he is a “character.” Quick with a quip, with a warm and easy smile, Fred Norman is someone you will never forget.
I attended Norman High School with his daughter, Nancy, so of course I proudly watched Fred as he presented the weather on KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City. Fred would tell it to you straight, with that mischievous grin, and a lot more often than not he was right about the weather. As we all know, that’s saying something in Oklahoma.
But he’s a lot more than Fred Norman, TV meteorologist. Fred Norman is a real hero; he didn’t just play one on TV. Long before he stood in front of the camera, Fred was a navigator on heavy bombers that flew into enemy territory on more than 35 missions during World War II.
It was inevitable that Fred Norman would serve during the war. Norman’s father fought against the Germans in World War I. He had lived in Hawaii for a while, so he was familiar with Pearl Harbor. His grandparents and parents were from England, so he knew about the war of aggression being fought in Europe. He was attracted to flying by reading “Flying Aces” magazine. Only one problem: Fred was born in Canada.
“Well, it did present a little problem,” said Fred. “As you know, we didn’t have the Air Force, we had the Army Air Corps. But, I took all the tests and got selected, and then they called me up and said I couldn’t get into the flying cadet program because I wasn’t a citizen, although my parents were naturalized. Fortunately, they got it all straightened out before I joined the Canadian RAF.”
After less than six months of training, Norman was on his way to England. He enjoyed the time he spent there, especially the nights at Piccadilly Circus, where young Americans would enjoy the social life and get to know the young women (much to the chagrin of British guys).
Flying at 30,000 feet, he saw a different war than did those on the ground, although he admits the weather in Europe sometimes made work difficult. Not to mention the Nazi flak. The flak hit him once, but the flak jacket he wore saved him. After that, Norman became one of the Army Air Corps’ biggest proponents of flak jackets.
Norman says pilots had to swerve to the target to keep from getting hit, but the B-17 could take it. “We brought one plane home with 400 holes in it,” he said. “No other plane could take that punishment and keep going, but the B-17 did.”
“Air power,” Norman said, “is what won the war. ” Norman added, “He who does not have air power domination is going to lose. We had the power, and we used it. How could it have come out any other way? We were unbeatable.”
After the war ended, Norman returned to the United States and became an instructor. He is especially pleased that he was able to help train the famed black fliers, the Tuskegee Airmen. Norman said, “I was very impressed. They were more disciplined. We were kind of cocky. They were courageous and willing and rearing to go, but the group I taught never got into battle, because the war abruptly ended, and within a week I was on my way home.”
Fred Norman used the G.I. Bill to get his college degree, went to work for the National Weather Bureau and never looked back. After stints as a TV meteorologist in Tampa, Amarillo and Denver, he settled in Oklahoma City.
Norman spent 16 years at KOCO. That’s where I got to know him, for real. By the mid-1980’s I was anchoring and reporting sports at KOCO, and Fred and I worked together on the weekend news, weather and sports team for a couple of years. Now, about twenty years later, it’s been a real honor to tell “the rest of the story” of Fred Norman, the aviator.
(above) Dick Pryor with Fred Norman at his Duncan home. Norman worked with Dick, Gerry Bonds and Ross Dixon at KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City.
Until next time, Dick Pryor
(Fred Norman was profiled on the Oklahoma News Report on September 26, 2007. To see the story, click on “Videos” on this website and go to “OETA’s Dick Pryor interviews Oklahoma WWII veterans.)
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