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This is my dad, Ken Van
Slyke, when he was Lt. Ken Van Slyke, Army Air
Force, 99th Combat Bomb Wing.
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Home on leave before being
sent to Europe to do his part in ending Hitler's
tyranny.
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This is one of the B-26
Martin Marauders my dad flew during campaigns in
Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes, and
Central Europe. It's hard to see him clearly, but
that's my dad looking out the cockpit
window.
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Here's my dad (left), Lt.
Leslie Goss (center), and an unidentified crew
member enjoying a Lucky Strike. According to Les,
they were saluting one of the last green packages
of Lucky Strike.
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This is the cockpit
of the Martin Marauder B-26. This is where
the pilots and copilots spent their time
during all those bombing missions that
helped send Adolf Hitler and his Third
Reich to the place of eternal
damnation.
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Here's Lt. Leslie Goss
outside his tent in Beauvais France sometime around
October 1944. The sign on the door reads "Chateau
Hell." My dad lived in a similar tent in the same
row.
Here's Lt. Goss visiting with
a good friend who was a frequent house guest from
October 1944 to March of 1945.
Les is still flying today.
You'll see photos of Les and his airplanes toward
the bottom of this page, along with a nice letter
he wrote about his experiences flying with my
dad.
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A nice view of some B-26
Martin Marauders on their way to deliver some
surprises to Adolf Hitler and his Nazi war
machine.
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Having reached their
destination, the "surprises" are released. If you
look closely, you'll see some bombs falling toward
their targets.
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In addition to Luftwaffe
fighters, flak was a constant threat to Allied
bombers. You can see some above this
B-26.
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Here's Lt. Van Slyke checking
his plane after a mission. He's looking at a hole
in the plane, caused either by a Luftwaffe bullet
or, perhaps, shrapnel.
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Mechanical failure was an
ever-present danger too. A B-26 had three wheels;
one under the nose and one under each wing. One day
the right wheel wouldn't lock into position, giving
my dad only one option - landing his plane on two
wheels. As you may guess, it was a rough landing.
The right wing hit the runway, causing the plane to
spin and break into two pieces. Luckily, everyone
walked away with no injuries.
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Here's the front half of the
"Pin Up Girl" being hauled away.
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If you'll look at the bombs
painted on the side of the "Pin Up Girl," you'll
see she reigned a lot of destruction on "der
Fuhrer" before her last flight. It was far from my
dad's last flight, however. He and his crew got a
new B-26 and continued raining on Adolf's
parade.
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The tail section of Pin Up
Girl being hauled away to the scrap
yard.
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After the war was
over, Les Goss was assigned the job of
checking out some German aircraft. Here he
is taking a look at what's left of a
German FW-190 at an abandonded German air
field west of Berlin. The field was full
of debris and hulks of planes that were no
longer flyable.
My dad passed away
at the age of 84 on March 23, 2001 after a
two-year battle with cancer and
Alzheimer's.
Les Goss is
presently living in Austin, Texas and,
until 2005, was still flying his own
Stearman and AT-6. Here's a letter we
received from Les . . .
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David,
My name is Leslie E. Goss. I
flew my first three missions with your dad. He was
pilot, I was co-pilot. He was checking me out. I
flew in formation with him many times after that.
In the third photo on your web site, I am the one
in the middle. My copy of the photo, as I recall,
says we were saying goodbye to Lucky Strike Green.
When your dad and I went to War, Lucky Strikes were
in a green package. We were saluting one of the
last of the Greens. I will locate the photo to see
if I have the name of the third person.
I joined the 322nd Group,
452nd Squadron in late August 1944 and flew my
first mission (with your dad) on September 16th. We
were flying out of Great Saling, England (Andrews
Field) near the town of Braintree. Our target was
the rail road bridge connecting Walcheron Island
,Holland, to the mainland. A short mission (2 hours
and 10 minutes} on a bright afternoon. I concluded
after this almost milk-run mission (there was some
flak) that combat was not going to be so bad. On my
second mission, with your dad, we were hit by
fighters. There was never a mission like the first
one.
David, I found this web site
four days ago. And I have been on the computer only
a year. So, I have been out of touch. I read your
page today just before noon. I decided to say hello
before day's end, and make contact. I don't think
about the war very often. But when I do, if I dwell
a bit, 'ol Van Slyke and I are flying those first
three missions.
I am still flying. I have a
Stearman and a North American AT-6.
- Leslie E.
Goss
- Austin, Texas
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A recent photo of Leslie
Goss
Here are the Stearman and AT-6 Les
owns and flies
And finally, here's Les flying his
Stearman over Lockhart, Texas
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