F/O W. H. Nelson was born on 2nd April 1917 in Montreal, Canada.
He enlisted in the RAF as a Provisional Pilot Officer in 1937, and was posted to 8 FTS Montrose on 9th May of that year.
On completion of pilot training, William was posted to 10 Squadron flying Whitley V bombers.
William decided to leave Bomber Command and volunteered for Fighter Command. He was accepted for training and arrived at 6 OTU Sutton Bridge on 24th June 1940.
After converting to Spitfires he was posted to the Tigers at Hornchurch on 20th July 1940. He was very unfortunate only four days later when he made a wheels-up landing while practicing landings. The Spitfire, L1001 was repairable and Nelson was unhurt but it was hardly a good start with his new squadron.

In the first combat of 11th August 1940, flying as Yellow 3 he could not pick out an individual target so climbed to engage six Me 109s at 28,000 feet. He closed on one and at 150 yards opened fire. The enemy fighter immediately burst into flames and was credited as destroyed. In the day’s third scramble at 11.45, 30 miles east of Harwich, Nelson was awarded one Me 110 destroyed and one damaged.

William was killed on Friday 1st November 1940, shot down in a surprise attack by Bf. 109s over Dover while flying Spitfire P7312, and is believed to have crashed into the Channel. He was aged 25 and his death is commemorated on Panel 4 at the Runnymede Memorial, Surrey.