BOXART STORY

#2139

Pappy’s“ guns

Text and collage: Richard Plos

Illustration: Antonis Karydis

The Japanese machine gun nests are

throwing fire and the Marines would like to

dig into the ground they are lying on. Any

advance is out of the question, he who raises his head will lose it. The Japanese, in

turn, cannot cease fire or the mass of resolute men will rise from the mud and make

a run for it. The deadlock is broken by a stream of bullets which the men spot even before a pair of Mitchells emerge from behind

the perimeter. Each of them is firing from

eight machine guns in the nose, and also the

gunner in the dorsal turret is doing his part.

Thousands of bullets tear through the Japanese positions with the Mitchells leaving

a phosphorus bomb salute as they pass. The

machine guns calm down, the rumble of the

engines fades into the distance and the Marines rise. Now it´s their run!

The planes that destroyed everything on the

enemy side of ground in this way did not

come about as a result of any thoughtful

high-level planning by the General Staff, nor

in the design offices of the then still young

and dynamic North American Aviation company, but in the mind of an aging “Mr. Pilot”

George Irvin Gunn a man who had gotten into

flying through his job as a mechanic in the

naval air force during World War I. Because

at 43 he was almost a generation older than

many of his colleagues, and because he

returned from the jungle one day after being shot down with grey hair instead of his

original dark hair, he earned the nickname

“Pappy”.

August 2022

In the 1930s, Gunn was considered one of

the best pilots in the ranks of the US Navy.

Before the outbreak of the war, he retired and settled in Philippines, helping to

establish an airline there, for which he also

flew. After the war broke out, he helped evacuate American citizens and was eventually called back into service. Even then, he

had the idea of an attack plane with lots of

machine guns to eliminate enemy ground

forces. Gunn pushed his idea only a little

later with the 3rd Attack Group, which received the new Douglas A-20s. Gunn advocated for their conversion to “strafers” as

part of an exploration of the possibilities of

a “Skip Bombing”. This was promoted by the

commander of the 5th AF, General Kenney.

Gunn received General’s full support, which

enabled him to begin converting B-25s to

“strafers” as well. The Mitchells were more

suitable to this task because of their performance and ruggedness, and soon instructions for modifying the aircraft were going

out to all units with Mitchells in the Pacific.

“Pappy” Gunn’s idea was then worked on directly by the factory, and the B-25J version

had already received a standardized solid

machine gun nose instead of the various

modifications to the glass nose. A total of

eight nose .50 guns could be supplemented

by four housed in the blisters on both sides

of the fuselage, but these were often removed due to the stress on the aircraft’s skin by

the recoil of the firing guns. If they were left

in place, an attacking B-25J could fire a total

of 14 machine guns at a target (if the dorsal

gunner was also engaged).

The box of the Gunn's Bunny kit sports a drawing of Bugs Bunny B-25 by Antonis Karydis, while the background is a collage containing two important motifs. Firstly “Pappy”

Gunn himself, who smiles at a passing B-25,

secondly a Pacific infantryman, the one who

has often seen nothing as welcome as a Mitchell joining the fight. The motif of the “shot

through” iron plate then illustrates the firepower these mighty aircraft possessed.

For “Pappy” Gunn, the war ended when

he was seriously injured by fragments of

a phosphorus bomb during the bombing of

the airfield at Tacloban. He was taken to

a hospital in Australia where he remained

until the end of the hostilities. There he

also reunited with his family, which survived the war in Japanese captivity. General

MacArthur personally sent his wife and

children to Australia to see him after the liberation in an airplane. Such was Paul Irvin

“Pappy” Gunn’s reputation...

After the war, he returned to work as a commercial pilot for Philippine Air Lines and

kept flying regular flights to USA. He often

gave a ride to various officials from the

military or government representatives.

He flew for last time on October 11, 1957. On

that occasion, he tried to avoid a tropical

storm during the flight but crashed fatally.

His remains were flown to the USA and buried in the US Navy Cemetery at Pensacola

Air Force Base.

INFO Eduard

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