Ken joined the RCAF a year and a day before Pearl Harbor and it was there he received his flight training and commission as a, Pilot Officer. In 1942, he was transferred in grade to the US Army Air Force and was assigned as an instructor pilot in AT-6's. At the end of October 1943, it was decided it was time for Ken to become more active in the war effort, and he was sent to Lockburne AFF in Columbus. Ohio to learn how to fly four engine aircraft. They turned out to be war-weary B-17's. By the end of December he had completed his transition training and was sent to Clovis, New Mexico to train as a pilot in the very latest in aircraft - the B-29. He and his wife, Alice, arrived in Clovis on New years Day, 1944. After a very comprehensive training period, which consisted of five hours of flying time - Trow was judged to be a qualified B-29 instructor pilot. Most of the crew training during this time was done in B-17's. There just weren't enough B-29's available yet.

At this stage, the B-29 was not a tried and true aircraft. It was still very much in the developmental process and crews were actually being used as much for the purpose of testing them as for training. It was difficult to catch up in the building of needed B-29's because we were losing them nearly as fast as new ones arrived. Ken remembers two occasions when he was lined up waiting for take off. Both times, the planes ahead of him crashed. Also, there were many times he returned to the field on three engines, sometimes even two. He never failed to kiss his wife when leaving the house to go flying. The way things were going, it could be his last flight.

Ken recalls one take off very vividly. It was dark and rainy and visibility was poor. Instead of turning the generator switches on, flight engineer Kit Carson made a major goof and turned them off! This meant that the only electric the aircraft had was that supplied by the "Putt-Putt." When the plane became air bound, and the gear up switch was hit, all of the lights went out! Even though Sgt. Carson immediately realized his error, the instrument panel lights were fluorescent and it required several seconds for them to restart. The 500 feet gained as they passed over the cliff gave Trow a short breathing spell. It was at that point, that nose gunner Buchinsky, who had been sitting on the aisle stand, reacted. He quickly produced a flashlight, which allowed the pilot to see the panel instead of flying blind.

Ken also recalls the method they would use to take care of rats that occupied the airplane. Occasionally, one would be seen scurrying along when they were flying at high altitude. He would order all the crew to put on oxygen masks then depressurize the aircraft. It would only be a minute or two before the rat had succumbed. They would dispose of the body by throwing it in the nose wheel well where it would drop out when the gear was let down. Capt. Trow would then re-pressurize.

Ken Trow and his crew had only flown five missions, when the Japanese decided to quit. Ken likes to think that he had something to do with it.

In November of 1945, he flew "Old Overcast" back to the States and was separated from the service at Mather Field.

In January of 1946, Ken decided to re-enter the service. He did so with the permanent rank of Master Sergeant.

Later as Crew Chief on a C-54, Trow's crew had the pleasure of flying General Curtis LeMay around for over a week and developed a genuine like, and respect for him. There were four other generals along on the trip. One day as LeMay was walking through the fuel compartment of the C-54, puffing on a cigar as usual, one of the 'generals cautioned him, declaring he could blow up the plane.

General LeMay so typically snapped, "It wouldn't dare!"