Leroy Gover lived in San Carlos, California. He had the 'bug' for flying and soloed a biplane on his sixteenth birthday. After graduating from high school he helped his father build homes, and learned the skills necessary to become a builder himself. In 1934 he bought a Piper Cub and spent two summers crop dusting in the Bakersfield area. He wanted to join the Air Corps but was not qualified, since he had no college education.

Through the Clayton Knight Committee, he applied for the RCAF in May 1941 and was accepted. He trained at Bakersfield, California, where he flew PT-17s and AT-6s.

Upon completion of his training there followed a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to England. There he received additional training in an Operational Training Unit. He served in aN RAF fighter squadron and then was transferred to No. 133 (Eagle) squadron before joining the newly formed USAAF 4th Fighter Group. The day before his transfer he shot down an Fw-190 over Dieppe flying a Spitfire. He flew Spitfires in the RAF and then in the 4th Fighter Group, amassing 47 combat missions in them prior to the Group's switch to P-47 Thunderbolts.

The Group began to receive P-47s, and immediately started to become familiar with this chubby fighter. On 24 February 1943 Lee had to make a dead-stick landing which proved it was possible. 10 March saw the first operational flight in P-47s, and by the end of May Lee had flown 38 missions in the "Jugs".

On 9 July 1943 Lee was awarded the Silver Star, the first such award in the 4th Group. On 14 October he was promoted to Major, and on 12 December he was grounded for a mandatory leave having flown 234 hours on 159 combat missions in the P-47.

On 30 May LeRoy was assigned to Page Field in Fort Myers, Florida, as Training Group Commander, where he served until the end of March 1945. He was then assigned to Luke Field in Phoenix, Arizona, where he flew two and four-engined bombers as Base Operations Officers at Kingman. In December 1945 he left the service and went into the construction business.

In 1947 he applied for a commission in the Army Air Force. On 19 June he was commissioned in the Regular Army and soon transferred as an officer to the Air Force. He wa assigned as an instructor for the Air National Guard in Charlotte, North Carolina, where one of his duties was to fly 16 P-47s to California to fly in the making of the film "Fighter Squadron".

His next assignment with the California Air National Guard gave him the opportunity to fly a P-51 Mustang. This was soon followed by subsequent assignments where he checked out inn a jet (P-80), and later in an F-86, and he became a Squadron Commander.

In 1951 he was promoted to a Lieutenant Colonel. He was promoted to Colonel in 1961 and retired in May 1962. As a civilian he flew charter flights to Mexico and Canada, retiring in 1980 after accumulating 28,000 hours of flying time. Although RAF records of individual enemy aircraft kills are incomplete, Lee's records indicate he had four fighters shot down, and he added three more flying P-47s with the 4th Fighter Group.

He ended his career in combat as one of the most decorated fighter pilots in England. Upon retirement in May 1962 he had received 18 medals, including the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the French Croix de Guerre and the British Distinguished Flying Cross.

From 1962 - 1980: Charter pilot, flying fisherman to Mexico and Canada. Retired in 1980, but continued flying into his eighties, ultimately logging over 28,000 hours flight time.