HISTORY
During his career Gunn flew variety of the aircraft
types including Boeing F4B fighter.
Peculiar from head to toe
Two years later, when Gunn was twenty-four-year-old, his six years’ contract with
Navy expired. The promise he will be finally given the pilot training made him to sign
for further six years and, in the spring of
1925, he finally obtained his wings. His boy’s dream was fulfilled, and Gunn became
a respected naval aviator. As a testimony
to that, he even served at Pensacola base
in the flight instructor role from August
to September 1928. Many Navy pilots, who
became famous during WWII, were his students and many recalled after many years
his unique teaching methods and colorful
language he used when they did not understand fast enough what he required. Gunn
was only interested in flying and aircraft
and was not too mindful of the subordination and career or promotion in the rank.
He was not disobedient just always found
his own way to do things without paying
to much attention to rules and regulations
or rank. He was a peculiar personality however popular among pilots and surprisingly some of his superiors as well.
In the beginning of 1929, he was transferred
from Pensacola to Anacostia base near
Washington, D. C., where his commanding
officer was Lieutenant Commander Joseph J. “Jocko” Clark, later a Rear Admiral,
new USS Hornet (CV-12) commander and
after that commander of the whole Task
Force 3. A Cherokee, he was the first native
American ever to graduate from the Naval
Academy. He very quickly became friend
with Paul. “In those days Anacostia had the
task of flying many important government
officials around the country and therefore
we wanted the best pilots we could get.
With the whole Navy to draw on, we picked P. I. Gunn. In those days we called him
‘P. I.’, he got the nickname of ‘Pappy’ later.
He was exceptionally able, always ready to
go anywhere any time – day or night. He had
a cheerfull and inspiring personality and
a high sense of duty,“ the Rear Admiral remembered him after years. In August 1930,
having completed his second six years’
28
INFO Eduard
by to Howland Island also the VF-2 pilots
searched for her, and Gunn could not miss
it.
As we mentioned earlier Paul Gunn always thought independently and had his own
At dusk a Zero attacked him and showered him with bullets but Gunn,
wildly maneuvering, managed to escape the Japanese at the treetop
altitude. However, when he was passing the Zablan Field base, he
received further “friendly” hits from the AA defense which confused
him with the Japanese aircraft. With the failing engine he turned
around and at 10 pm, in pitch black, he performed an emergency
landing with his Beechcraft at the local runway …
Pacific. In the fall of 1931, he was hospitalized with double hernia (according to his
account caused by the frequent catapult
launches off the cruisers’ deck) in Hawaii
and after the discharge he returned to his
family which at that time counted four children. He stayed at home in San Diego until
1933 and became the member of VF-2 “Top
Hat” squadron flying from USS Lexington.
Aboard he met Clark again which was
not a coincidence. Truth was that “Jocko”
personally requested Gunn for his unit.
He appreciated him as an outstanding fighter pilot excelling in both dogfighting and
air gunnery. And VF-2 was considered an
elite Navy squadron. Nevertheless, in 1933
Paul Gunn was transferred to Hawaii again
in the role of a Naval Aviation technical
officer and flew out of the land bases. From
time-to-time Lexington paid visit to Pearl
Harbor and Gunn could meet his former
colleagues from VF-2. Typically, he took
advantage of the situation to fly with them
off the aircraft carrier deck. When on July
2nd, 1937, Amelia Earhart disappeared over
the Pacific Ocean flying from Port Mores-
ways. One of the proofs of his peculiarity
is how he handled prolonged teeth aches.
They bothered him for years, so he decided
to solve the problem for good. He visited
a military dentist in Hawaii and asked him
to extract all his teeth and replace them
with prosthetics. Doctor refused and scheduled Gunn for a comprehensive diagnosis to determine next steps. Paul left and
headed directly to a civilian Japanese dentist in Honolulu, had the molds done and right after all the teeth were gone. When the
military dentist tried to get hold of Paul since he missed the appointment, he took out
the brand-new prosthetics from his mouth
stating he had no more any problems with
his teeth …
Back to civilian life …
On August 6, 1937, Paul Irvin Gunn completed his twenty years of service with the
Navy and retired to reserve with the rank
of Chief Petty Officer. He already had his
plans. During his service in Hawaii, he met
two men. One was Robert Tyce, civilian
air transport pilot, and Charles Knox who
(photo: National Archives)
(photo: National Archives)
contract with Navy Gunn signed for the third term. He decided to serve twenty years
to earn reserve status with half-pension
and at the age of mere 37 years. The duty
brought him to Atlantic, Caribbean and
One of Gunn’s superiors was Joseph J. “Jocko” Clark who later became a Rear Admiral and Task Force
3 commander.
October 2022