Norm Goyer and the Japanese Val Dive Bomber
The restaurant at Apple Valley airport has had a long history of many owners until recently when stable owners currently run it well.
But 25 yrs ago, we used to fly down for Saturday breakfast with many pilots and planes from Big Bear and sit inside facing the cinderblock wall towards the north.
APV management was more lax in those days and allowed pilots to sign names and dates of aviation accomplishments on the block wall if you could find an open spot; my name is there for a first Pulsar flight.
On one trip down, we were met by an old, local WWII fighter pilot, Norm Goyer, who told the following story at breakfast that I never forgot-
Around the late 1970s, there was a weekly TV program called “Ba Ba Black Sheep” that was based on the WWII adventures of Corsair pilots dogfighting Japanese fighters in the Pacific.
Was a popular show among pilots back then. The weekly episodes were shot at Pt. Mugu out over the ocean. Norm was hired as a pilot of the Jap Val divebomber used in the film shoots.
The Val was a low-wing dive bomber with fixed gear and large wheel pants and red ball insignias on the sides and wings to stand out in the films. It also had propane machine guns on the wings that produced vivid flames when the trigger was pulled.
In reality, it looked like a T-6 with wheel pants. He was based in Palm Springs with the Val bomber and a day or so before a shoot at Pt. Mugu, the film company would call and ask him to be there at 8am the following day with the Val ready to lose another dogfight.
On one December Saturday, they called and told Norm to be there the next morning. He preflighted the plane and at 6am on Sunday, he pulled the plane out in the dark and just as he was shutting the hangar door, Norm happened to glance at a calendar on the wall that showed it was December 7, Pearl Harbor Day, for Americans. He took off and liked to fly about 500’ agl over the desert on Hwy 18 towards Palmdale.
As he flew westward, the sun was rising in the east on his back.
Now fighter pilots always like to attack the enemy with the sun behind them as it makes it more difficult to be seen if looking directly at the sun. And any edge over the enemy is welcome.
So here is Norm flying a Jap Val warbird on Sunday December 7 to do battle with Corsairs over the Pacific ocean off the California coast.
And 2 miles away comes an 18 wheeler down the highway straight towards him.
Norm said he could not resist and dropped to treetop level head on with the truck with the sun behind and machine guns on the wings. At 1/4 mi apart, he pulled the trigger and flames shot out right at the poor driver from a Val warbird. The driver slammed on his brakes to stop just as the Val inverted, with guns blazing and kissed over the truck at 250 mph upside down. What must that driver have thought? Was there a time warp?
The rest of the day was spent doing the filming and around 4pm, Norm landed back in Palm Springs. There on the ground at his hangar were two FAA men who immediately confronted him and accused him of attacking a truck on the desert highway. Norm claimed innocence. The FAA insisted that he was flying the only Val warbird in the USA and he must be guilty. But they had no positive evidence to hang on him and they had to let Norm off without penalty.
I think his beating the FAA was a crowning achievement from then on.
Norm and his generation are gone now but some of their stories are still remembered. They were the flying examples of the “Finest Generation”.
Bob H
Copyright © 2024 Big Bear Airport Pilots Association - All Rights Reserved.
Powered by GoDaddy